Provided by the present disclosure are a 4D (four-dimensional) intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) imaging system, an ultrasonic imaging method and an ultrasonic imaging apparatus. The system at least includes an interventional catheter, an external mechanical driving apparatus, and an ultrasonic host. The interventional catheter includes a miniature ultrasonic probe located at a distal end. The ultrasonic host is connected to the miniature ultrasonic probe, and used to output an acoustic wave driving signal. The miniature ultrasonic probe is used to emit the acoustic wave driving signal intermittently. The mechanical driving apparatus is used to drive the probe to rotate unidirectionally and uniformly in the interventional catheter when the probe emits the acoustic wave driving signal, thus performing mechanical 4D scanning imaging. The miniature ultrasonic probe is also used to receive an echo signal of the acoustic wave driving signal, and to transmit the echo signal to the ultrasonic host.

According to one embodiment, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes an ultrasonic probe and processing circuitry. The ultrasonic probe is configured to transmit and receive an ultrasonic wave. The processing circuitry is configured to acquire an optical image of a subject housed in a housing unit containing a medium. The processing circuitry is configured to estimate state information of the subject from the optical image. The processing circuitry is configured to set a scan condition of ultrasonic scanning for the subject based on the state information.

An interlaced data acquisition scheme is employed in an ultrasound imaging device to reduce the amount of electrical power consumed by the device's transmit firings when collecting video data. Reducing electrical consumption according to the present disclosure reduces battery size, weight and cost; reduces heat generation; reduces need for heat-dissipating materials in the probe and prolongs probe uptime. A reconstruction algorithm is employed to produce images from the interlaced data that are comparable in quality to videos that would be obtained by a conventional (non-interlaced) image acquisition.

An apparatus (100) for the pyrolytic decomposition of a hydrocarbon fuel into a plurality of products including a reaction chamber (102) and an electrically conducting coil (104) surrounding the reaction chamber (102). The reaction chamber (102) has an inlet, for supplying hydrocarbon fuel into the reaction chamber (102) and an outlet for the products of the pyrolytic decomposition, and the electrically conducting coil (104) surrounds the reaction chamber (102) between the inlet and the outlet. The electrically conducting coil (102) receives an alternating current and heats the reaction chamber (102) by induction.

Organ transplantation remains the only definitive therapeutic solution for many pathologies, but the number of currently available grafts is largely insufficient. A new approach is proposed to quantitatively evaluate isolated organs by ultrasound, which enables to safely admit more isolated organs as grafts available for transplantation. The isolated organ (2) is received in an organ preservation container (3) made of ultrasound transparent material, and the isolated organ is imaged by an ultrasound imaging probe (6) through the container (3). The ultrasound image of the isolated organ is used to determine a quantitative index representing viability of the isolated organ.

A Multiple Aperture Ultrasound Imaging (MAUI) probe or transducer is uniquely capable of simultaneous imaging of a region of interest from separate apertures of ultrasound arrays. Some embodiments provide systems and methods for designing, building and using ultrasound probes having continuous arrays of ultrasound transducers which may have a substantially continuous concave curved shape in two or three dimensions (i.e., concave relative to an object to be imaged). Other embodiments herein provide systems and methods for designing, building and using ultrasound imaging probes having other unique configurations, such as adjustable probes and probes with variable configurations.

In one example in accordance with the present disclosure, an imaging device is described. The imaging device includes an array of transducers. Each transducer includes an array of piezoelectric elements. Each piezoelectric element transmits pressure waves towards an object to be imaged and receives reflections of the pressure waves off the object to be imaged. The imaging device also includes a transmit channel per one or more piezoelectric elements to generate the pressure waves and a receive channel per one or more piezoelectric elements to process the reflections of the pressure waves. The number of channels are selectively altered to control parameters such as power consumption and temperature.

The present disclosure includes ultrasound systems and methods for imaging anisotropic tissue with shear wave elastography at a variety of angles with respect to the tissue. An example ultrasound imaging system includes a probe coupled to a position tracking system for tracking a position of the probe with respect to a subject, and a processor in communication with the probe. The processor may receive position tracking data from the position tracking system. The processor may define at least one target plane in anisotropic tissue, determine a difference between a current position of the probe and the position of the target plane, and provide a visual indicator of the difference, wherein the processor dynamically updates the visual indicator responsive to a change in the position of the imaging plane with respect to the target plane.

In one example in accordance with the present disclosure, an imaging device is described. The imaging device includes an array of transducers. Each transducer includes an array of piezoelectric elements. Each piezoelectric element transmits pressure waves towards an object to be imaged and receives reflections of the pressure waves off the object to be imaged. The imaging device also includes a transmit channel per one or more piezoelectric elements to generate the pressure waves and a receive channel per one or more piezoelectric elements to process the reflections of the pressure waves. The number of channels are selectively altered to control parameters such as power consumption and temperature.

A Multiple Aperture Ultrasound Imaging (MAUI) probe or transducer is uniquely capable of simultaneous imaging of a region of interest from separate apertures of ultrasound arrays. Some embodiments provide systems and methods for designing, building and using ultrasound probes having continuous arrays of ultrasound transducers which may have a substantially continuous concave curved shape in two or three dimensions (i.e., concave relative to an object to be imaged). Other embodiments herein provide systems and methods for designing, building and using ultrasound imaging probes having other unique configurations, such as adjustable probes and probes with variable configurations.