Methods and systems for treating stretch marks through deep tissue tightening with ultrasound are provided. An exemplary method and system comprise a therapeutic ultrasound system configured for providing ultrasound treatment to a shallow tissue region, such as a region comprising an epidermis, a dermis and a deep dermis. In accordance with various exemplary embodiments, a therapeutic ultrasound system can be configured to achieve depth from 0 mm to 1 cm with a conformal selective deposition of ultrasound energy without damaging an intervening tissue in the range of frequencies from 2 to 50 MHz. In addition, a therapeutic ultrasound can also be configured in combination with ultrasound imaging or imaging/monitoring capabilities, either separately configured with imaging, therapy and monitoring systems or any level of integration thereof.

An ultrasound imaging system includes a beamformer (104) configured to beamform ultrasound signals. The beamformer includes input/output (110) configured to at least receive ultrasound signals. The ultrasound imaging system further includes a first ultrasound probe connector (128) and a second ultrasound probe connector (128). The ultrasound imaging system further includes a switch (134) that concurrently routes ultrasound signals concurrently received via the first ultrasound probe connector and the second ultrasound probe connector to the beamformer, which processes the ultrasound signals.

In an ultrasound imaging device, an ultrasound imaging transducer produces digitized echo data in response to the transmission of acoustic energy. A base system processes the digitized echo data. A cable assembly communicates the digitized echo data between the transducer and the base system. An electronic cable driver at the imaging transducer is constructed and arranged to transmit the digitized echo data at a rate greater than about 1 Gbs from the transducer to the base system over the cable assembly at a reduced voltage. An amplifier at the base system amplifies received digitized echo data from the reduced voltage to an amplified voltage suitable for further processing at the base system. The reduced voltage is about 300 mV peak to peak or less.

An ultrasound transducer may include: a plurality of capacitive ultrasound transducer elements; and a base having a largest dimension sized and shaped to be disposed with an external ear canal, wherein the plurality of capacitive ultrasound transducers is mounted on the base. Each capacitive ultrasound transducer element and the ultrasound transducer are specifically constructed to achieve select desired performance characteristics. The ultrasound transducer may have an angular beam spread through a gaseous medium of greater than 15 degrees and an attenuation loss through the gaseous medium of greater than 10 dB measured at a distance 12.5 mm to 25 mm along a primary transmission axis of the ultrasound transducer. The ultrasound transducer may be particularly useful for characterizing fluid behind an ear drum to diagnose otitis media.

Nowadays, the interest to use ultrasound waves in medical field is well established. Indeed, the study of mechanical waves propagating in a medium allows usually to retrieve the properties of this medium as an organ such the heart. These elastic properties may be determined on the basis of propagation parameters as the velocity of shear waves propagating in the medium. The shear waves may be generated artificially or naturally (e.g. valves closure of the heart) in the medium. In both cases, the generation or/and observation of such shear waves require high complex and cost system as well as complex method for estimating with high precision the velocity of shear. The present disclosure overcomes the above drawbacks by proposing a new method and detection system for estimating in a simple and efficiency way the velocity of shear waves propagating in a medium, and with a high precision, requirement needed for determining the elastic properties of the medium.