An imaging member including: a pressing member that presses a breast of a subject; and an ultrasonography member that has a first surface on which an acoustic matching member having fluidity is provided, and is provided such that a second surface on a side opposite to the first surface is provided on a surface of the pressing member, which is on a side opposite to a surface that comes into contact with the breast, via a coupling material having lower fluidity than the acoustic matching member.

An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus 1 includes an image acquisition unit 3 that generates an ultrasound image, an image recognition unit 9 that performs image recognition for the ultrasound image to calculate recognition scores, an index value calculation unit 10 that calculates index values of a plurality of parts on the basis of the recognition scores calculated for a predetermined number of ultrasound images, a part narrowing-down unit 11 that narrows down target parts for which part determination is to be performed, from the plurality of parts on the basis of the index values, and a part determination unit 12 that determines an imaging part of the subject on the basis of the recognition scores calculated by the image recognition unit 9 for the target parts narrowed down by the part narrowing-down unit 11.

Apparatus and methods for deactivating bronchial nerves extending along the secondary bronchial branches of a mammalian subject to treat asthma and related conditions. An ultrasonic transducer (11) is inserted into the bronchus as, for example, by advancing the distal end of a catheter (10) bearing the transducer into the secondary bronchial section to be treated. The ultrasonic transducer emits circumferential ultrasound so as to heat tissues throughout circular impact volume (13) as, for example, at least about 1 cm.sup.3 encompassing the bronchus to a temperature sufficient to inactivate nerve conduction but insufficient to cause rapid ablation or necrosis of the tissues. The treatment can be performed without locating or focusing on individual bronchial nerves. The apparatus and methods utilized for lung tumor ablation.

An ultrasound diagnostic apparatus 1 includes an image acquisition unit 3 that generates an ultrasound image, an image recognition unit 9 that performs image recognition for the ultrasound image to calculate recognition scores, an index value calculation unit 10 that calculates index values of a plurality of parts on the basis of the recognition scores calculated for a predetermined number of ultrasound images, a part narrowing-down unit 11 that narrows down target parts for which part determination is to be performed, from the plurality of parts on the basis of the index values, and a part determination unit 12 that determines an imaging part of the subject on the basis of the recognition scores calculated by the image recognition unit 9 for the target parts narrowed down by the part narrowing-down unit 11.

A system for acquiring physiological data from a patient, the system comprising: a smartphone configured for wireless communication; an adapter for releasably mounting to the smartphone; a sensor module for releasably mounting to the adapter, the sensor module comprising at least one sensor for acquiring physiological data from the patient; and a software app running on the smartphone for (i) wirelessly controlling operation of the sensor module and wirelessly receiving the physiological data from the sensor module, and (ii) wirelessly communicating with a remote location.

A method for measuring viscoelastic properties of a viscoelastic medium, the method including positioning a probe in contact with the viscoelastic medium, the probe extending along a longitudinal axis and being adapted to carry out transient elastography measurements and including a casing, at least one ultrasound a transducer arranged at a tip of the probe and adapted to generate ultrasounds, a force sensor configured to measure a force applied by the tip of the probe, and a vibrator arranged in the casing and adapted to generate a low-frequency wave, measuring a contact force by the force sensor; generating a measurement ready signal by the probe when the measured contact force is higher than a minimum measurement force threshold, and when the measurement ready signal has been generated, triggering a transient elastography measurement.

An ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus of an embodiment includes a processing circuitry. The a processing circuitry acquires contact information detected by a plurality of contact sensors provided at different positions on an ultrasonic probe inserted into a body cavity of a subject and causes an output interface to output information representing a state of the ultrasonic probe in the body cavity on the basis of the contact information and the positions of the contact sensors provided on the ultrasonic probe.

A replaceable attachment for an ultrasound probe includes a ring-like fastening region for fastening the attachment to the ultrasound probe, and a flexible membrane arranged on the fastening region. A first liquid or gel-like contact medium is applied to an inner contact surface of the membrane. The contact surface makes contact with an end face of the ultrasound probe when an attachment is fastened to the ultrasound probe. Before the attachment is fastened, the first contact medium is distributed on the contact surface in such a manner that, in an array region of the contact surface, a quantity of the first contact medium per surface is at least twice as large as in a remaining region of the contact surface. A positioning and extent of the array region is adapted to a positioning and extent of a piezo array of the ultrasound probe.

An ultrasound probe positioning system comprises a positioning unit for holding an ultrasound probe unit and for moving the ultrasound probe unit and positioning it at a target position and a positioning control unit 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 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 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 for robot-assisted ultrasound scanning comprises a multi axis robot with an end effector, a transducer holding element for connecting an ultrasound transducer to the end effector, a user input arrangement having at least three separate proportional inputs representing desired ultrasound transducer displacement along X, Y and Z axes of an orthogonal coordinate system defining the ultrasound transducer motion, and a controller which is connected to the user input arrangement and which controls the end effector based on input. The controller acquires a 3D model of a surface to be scanned and is arranged to continuously update the orthogonal coordinate system defining the ultrasound transducer motion as the ultrasound transducer moves, the X, Y and Z axes are arranged as described. In this way, the operator can easily move the transducer along the surface of the area to be scanned.