The present invention concerns a method for obtaining a functional parameter of a muscle having a part, the method comprising the steps of: a) applying ultrasound waves to the muscle, b) collecting the ultrasound waves retrodiffused by the muscle at a plurality of times, to obtain collected ultrasound waves, c) determining a first plurality of values representative of stiffness values of one part at a first plurality of times by using the collected ultrasound waves, d) determining a second plurality of values representative of deformation values of said part at a second plurality of times by using the collected ultrasound waves, and e) deducing at least one functional parameter based on the first plurality of values and the second plurality of values. The invention also concerns a corresponding device.

The disclosed technology relates to imaging catheters. A method is provided that includes: receiving, from a plurality of transducers disposed on a catheter probe, a corresponding plurality of analog signals; selectively sampling the plurality of analog signals; multiplexing to produce a sequence of samples; and transmitting the sequence of samples to a receiver circuit. The receiver circuit includes a clock; an analog to digital converter (ADC) in communication with the clock; and a sampling phase correction circuit in communication with the clock and the ADC. The method further includes: determining optimum sampling times based on measured signal delays associated with the system; adjusting a phase of the clock based on the measured signal delays; and communicating the phase-adjusted clock to the transmitter circuit for the selective sampling of the analog signals. Certain embodiments of the disclosed technology may further be utilized in conjunction with beamforming.

An ultrasound machine for generating push-pulses to excite shear wave stimulation employs separated angled beams that converge at the target region to generate the push-pulses. In one embodiment, the beams are modulated by a set of apodization functions to reduce side lobes caused by the narrowing of the apertures of the beam as well as transducer heating by reducing the average energy deposited in each transducer element.

Dynamically identifying a stationary body of fluid (102) within a test volume by scanning within the volume can entail using a first part of a pulse sequence to acoustically interrogate a region within the volume to detect pre-existing movement (124) and, via a separate acoustic interrogation constituting the second part of the pulse sequence, acoustically interrogating the region to distinguish solid from fluid. The scanning is with both interrogations as a unit, so as to span the volume with the interrogations. The body is identified, dynamically based on an outcome of the interrogations. The scanning may span, for the identifying, a current field of view (116), including normal tissue, within an imaging subject. The procedure, from scanning to identifying, may be performed automatically and without need for user intervention, although the user can optionally change the field of view to further search for stationary fluid.

An ultrasound diagnostic device includes a propagation information estimator that evaluates reliability of wavefront arrival time data in the wavefront arrival time frame data and, for reliability nonconformance wavefront arrival time data in the wavefront arrival time frame data that does not satisfy a predefined condition, generates compensated wavefront arrival time data by interpolation based on wavefront arrival time data that does satisfy the predefined condition, replaces the reliability nonconformance wavefront arrival time data with the compensated wavefront arrival time data, and generates compensated wavefront arrival time frame data; and an elastic modulus calculator that calculates shear wave propagation speed and/or elastic modulus frame data in the region of interest, based on the compensated wavefront arrival time frame data.

A method for performing shear wave elastography imaging of an observation field in a medium, the method comprising a plurality of shear wave imaging steps (30) to acquire a plurality of sets of shear wave propagation parameters, the method further comprising a reliability indicator determining step (40) during which a reliability indicator of the shear wave elastography imaging of the observation field is determined.

An ultrasonic signal processing apparatus includes: a push wave transmitter that causes the ultrasonic probe to transmit a push wave for causing displacement in a subject; a detection wave transmitter that causes the ultrasonic probe to transmit a detection wave after the transmission of the push wave; a detection wave receiver that receives an ultrasonic wave reflected from the region of the interest by using the ultrasonic probe and converts the ultrasonic wave into a reception signal; a phasing adder that sets a plurality of observation points in the region of the interest and performs phasing addition for each of the plurality of the observation points to generate an acoustic line signal; and a mechanical property calculator that calculates a mechanical property of the subject in the region of the interest based on an acoustic line signal for each of the plurality of the observation point.

A system and method from improving the image quality achievable with an ultrasound transducer by using a composite aperture for receiving ultrasound echoes. By using two receive cycles per vector, twice as many transducers may be used for receiving ultrasound imaging data than there are physical channels available in the ultrasound probe. An ultrasound probe utilizing a composite aperture can achieve high image quality from a system have reduced power, size, cost and complexity.

A shear wave velocity is accurately measured. Time change data of a displacement of a tissue due to a shear wave generated in a test object is calculated from a reception signal obtained by transmitting an ultrasonic wave to the test object and receiving a reflected wave. The time change data of the displacement is converted into spectrum data indicating a displacement distribution in a frequency space having a spatial frequency and a time frequency as two axes. Spectrum data in a predetermined region is extracted by rotating the spectrum data by a predetermined angle in the frequency space, and filtering the rotated spectrum data. A velocity of the shear wave is calculated based on the extracted spectrum data in the predetermined region.

A transducer array includes at least one annular shear wave generation transducer that defines an interior area, the at least one annular shear wave generation transducer being configured to generate a shear wave excitation to a region of interest such that the shear wave excitation excites at least a part of a corresponding cylindrical portion of the region of interest and shear waves propagating from the cylindrical portion of the region of interest constructively interfere in an interior region of the cylindrical portion of the region of interest: and at least one tracking transducer positioned in the interior area of the at least one annular shear wave generation transducer, the at least one tracking transducer being configured to detect a shear wave in the interior region of the region of interest.