A catheter, such as a fractional flow reserve catheter, includes an elongate shaft having a pressure sensing wire extending to the distal portion of the elongate shaft. The wire has a pressure sensor mounted on the distal end for measuring a pressure of a fluid within lumen of vessel. The pressure sensor wire is disposed within a pocket formed adjacent to the pressure sensor thereby minimizing the profile of the catheter. Bending stresses experienced by a pressure sensor mounted to a fractional flow reserve catheter when tracking the catheter through the vasculature creates a distortion of the sensor resulting in an incorrect pressure reading or bend error. In order to isolate the sensor from bending stresses, the sensor is spaced apart from the pressure sensor wire to allow the pressure sensor and the pressure sensor wire to move independently from one another.

Methods and systems for facilitating assessment of blood flow in a tissue volume of a subject are disclosed. In some variations, the method may include: after a predetermined amount of a fluorescence agent has been administered to the subject, exciting the fluorescence agent in the tissue volume such that the excited fluorescence agent emits fluorescent light, acquiring fluorescence data based on the fluorescent light emitted during blood flow through the tissue volume, estimating a molar concentration of the fluorescence agent in the blood flowing through the tissue volume, and generating an assessment of blood flow in the tissue volume based at least in part on the fluorescence data and the estimated molar concentration of the fluorescence agent. The estimated molar concentration may be based on the predetermined amount of the fluorescence agent and an estimated circulating blood volume of the subject.

A fully automated ultrasound apparatus includes a sensor or probe which can be initially manually attached to a side of the neck of a patient, an ultrasound interface to control the sensor and periodically acquire raw ultrasound data, a signal and image processing system to autonomously convert the raw ultrasound data into a measurement that is useful to physicians, and a display to relay the current measurements and measurement history to provide data trends. The sensor can include one or more ultrasound transducers built into a housing. A disposable component can serve to secure the sensor to the neck of the patient and to provide a coupling medium between the sensor and the skin of the patient.

An automatic clipping technique capable of satisfactorily extracting blood vessels to be extracted is provided. A specific tissue extraction mask image which is created by extracting a specific tissue (for example, a brain) from a three-dimensional image acquired by magnetic resonance angiography and a blood vessel extraction mask image which is created by extracting a blood vessel from an area (a blood vessel search area) which is determined using a preset landmark position and the specific tissue extraction mask image are integrated to create an integrated mask. By applying the integrated mask to the three-dimensional image, a blood vessel is clipped from the three-dimensional image.

An apparatus for measuring bio-information may include: a pulse wave sensor comprising at least one pair of light emitters which are disposed apart from each other and a light receiver disposed between the at least one pair of light emitters, and configured to measure a plurality of pulse wave signals from an object by using the light receiver and the at least one pair of light emitters; a force sensor configured to measure a contact force that is applied to the pulse wave sensor by the object; and a processor configured to generate an integrated pulse wave signal by integrating the plurality of pulse wave signals based on the contact force and an area of a contact surface of the pulse wave sensor, and estimate bio-information of the object based on the integrated pulse wave signal.

An MEMS airborne ultrasonic transducer system operating on a thermoacoustic principle to determine brain haemorrhage, includes: an RF transmitter and ultrasound receiver systems to transmit RF energy and receive ultrasound wave, respectively, an RF transmitter system having an RF signal generator, an RF amplifier and a horn antenna, and an ultrasound receiver system having a lock-in amplifier, a DC supply and two ultrasonic transducer arrays wirebonded to low noise amplifier (LNA) chips. The MEMS airborne ultrasonic transducer system determines brain haemorrhage based on detecting RF-induced, blood-originating, thermoacoustic ultrasound wave at the pulse modulation frequency.

A method for converting physiological signals includes: obtaining a first signal as a function of a time parameter, wherein the first signal represents electrocardiogram data; obtaining a second signal as a function of the time parameter, wherein the second signal represents physiological data different from the electrocardiogram data; mixing the first signal and the second signal to obtain a mixed signal; and generating a frequency spectrum pertaining to the mixed signal.

Embodiments include a system for determining cardiovascular information for a patient. The system may include at least one computer system configured to receive patient-specific data regarding a geometry of the patient's heart, and create a three-dimensional model representing at least a portion of the patient's heart based on the patient-specific data. The at least one computer system may be further configured to create a physics-based model relating to a blood flow characteristic of the patient's heart and determine a fractional flow reserve within the patient's heart based on the three-dimensional model and the physics-based model.

Embodiments include a system for determining cardiovascular information for a patient. The system may include at least one computer system configured to receive patient-specific data regarding a geometry of the patient's heart, and create a three-dimensional model representing at least a portion of the patient's heart based on the patient-specific data. The at least one computer system may be further configured to create a physics-based model relating to a blood flow characteristic of the patient's heart and determine a fractional flow reserve within the patient's heart based on the three-dimensional model and the physics-based model.

Systems and methods are disclosed for identifying anatomically relevant blood flow characteristics in a patient. One method includes: receiving, in an electronic storage medium, a patient-specific representation of at least a portion of vasculature of the patient having a lesion at one or more points; receiving values for one or more metrics of interest associated with one or more locations in the vasculature of the patient; receiving one or more observed lumen measurements of the vasculature of the patient; determining the location of a diseased region in the vasculature of the patient using the received values for the one or more metrics of interest, wherein the determination of the location includes predicting or receiving one or more healthy lumen measurements of the vasculature of the patient; determining the extent of the diseased region; and generating a visualization of at least the diseased region.