The present application provides systems and methods for measuring cell function or tissue function. More particularly, the present application provides systems and methods for determining cell or tissue contractility using ultrasound; systems and methods for measuring the effect an agent has on cell or tissue contractility using ultrasound; and systems and methods for determining material properties of a material using ultrasound.

An ultrasonic transducer having a flexible printed circuit board with a thick metal layer and a manufacturing method thereof are disclosed. The ultrasonic transducer, according to an embodiment of the present invention, comprises: an active element that generates an ultrasonic signal, wherein the active element has a thickness of or less at the center frequency of the generated ultrasonic signal; and a flexible printed circuit board that includes a metal layer with a predetermined thickness, which is formed on one surface of the active element and is electrically connected to the active element, wherein the metal layer blocks ultrasonic waves that propagate in an opposite direction to a predetermined travel path of the ultrasonic waves.

The invention generally relates to intravascular imaging system and particularly to processing in multimodal systems. The invention provides an imaging system that splits incoming image data into two signals and performs the same processing step on each of the split signals. The system can then send the two signals down two processing pathways. Methods include receiving an analog image signal, transmitting the received signal to a processing system, splitting the signal to produce a first image signal and a second image signal, and performing a processing operation on the first image signal and the second image signal. The first and second signal include substantially the same information as one another.

A signal processing pathway for an ultrasonic imaging device is provided. The signal processing pathway is configured to operate in a frequency range of 1 MHz to 40 MHz inclusive and a voltage range of 80V to +80V inclusive.

A catheter-based imaging apparatus comprises a catheter having a proximal end and a distal end. An optical emitter is configured to emit optical excitation signals from a distal portion of the catheter. One or more ultrasound transducers are configured for: (a) transmission of acoustic excitation signals from the distal portion of the catheter; and (b) detection of ultrasound response signals from an object of interest at or near to the distal portion of the catheter at frequencies which include a lower receive frequency at least as low as 10 MHz and a higher receive frequency at least as high as 35 MHz. The one or more ultrasound transducers are thereby configured to detect response signals comprising photoacoustic response signals from the object of interest at the lower receive frequency and high resolution imaging signals from the object of interest at the higher receive frequency.

A dual frequency ultrasound transducer includes a high frequency (HF) transducer and a low frequency (LF) transducer that is positioned behind the high frequency transducer. An intermediate layer is positioned between the low frequency transducer and the high frequency transducer to absorb high frequency ultrasound signals. An alignment feature on the low frequency transducer is positioned with respect to a fiducial that is marked at a known position with respect to high frequency transducer elements of the HF transducer to align low frequency transducer elements of the LF transducer with the HF transducer elements.

The invention generally relates to intravascular imaging system and particularly to processing in multimodal systems. The invention provides an imaging system that splits incoming image data into two signals and performs the same processing step on each of the split signals. The system can then send the two signals down two processing pathways. Methods include receiving an analog image signal, transmitting the received signal to a processing system, splitting the signal to produce a first image signal and a second image signal, and performing a processing operation on the first image signal and the second image signal. The first and second signal include substantially the same information as one another.

In one embodiment, a method includes transmitting, from a first transducer of an electronic device, a first audio signal to a surface near the electronic device. The first audio signal is generated based on a frequency sweep across a range of frequencies. The method also includes receiving, at a second transducer of the electronic device, a second audio signal that is at least partly reflected off the surface. The method then determines an attribute of the surface based on the received second audio signal.

An adaptor for adjusting electrical signals propagated along an electrically-conductive path between a drive unit and a catheter of an intravascular ultrasound imaging system includes a catheter connector disposed along a first end of a housing and configured to receive the catheter. A drive-unit connector is disposed along a second end of the housing and is configured to couple the adaptor to the drive unit. A catheter-conductor interface electrically-couples to a transducer conductor of the catheter. A drive-unit-conductor interface electrically-couples to an electrical conductor of the drive unit. An adaptor conductor electrically-couples the catheter-conductor interface to the drive-unit-conductor interface. A tuning element is electrically-coupled to the adaptor conductor and is configured to adjust electrical signals propagating along the adaptor conductor based, at least in part, on an operational frequency of a transducer disposed in the catheter.

An intravascular imaging system includes a transducer capable of generating raw data representative of the structure of a patient's vasculature. The system includes an imaging engine for receiving the raw data and generating enhanced data for presentation to a user. The imaging engine includes a coherence filter, an envelope detection module having one or more envelope detectors, and a spatial filter for processing data in various stages. Such stages of processing in the imaging engine act to reduce high frequency noise, generate low frequency data, reduce low frequency noise, and display low frequency data with an improved signal-to-noise ratio. The system can include an image generator for generating an image based on enhanced data and a display for displaying the generated image.