A method for estimating blood pressure using a blood flow occlusion system applied to an artery includes receiving from a first sensor a sensed signal; processing at a processor the sensed signal to detect beats in a pulsatile signal; determining validity of the detected beats; storing the detected beats and data associated with the detected beats in the sensed signal as the pressure applied to the artery by the blood flow occlusion system deflates towards a level below a nominal level; determining baseline beat characteristics; evaluating the stored beats and associated data to detect change in beat characteristics as compared to the baseline beat characteristics; selecting a beat before the detected change in the beat characteristic as the last beat indicating the onset of the diastolic blood pressure for the artery; determining a value of the applied pressure at the last beat as the diastolic blood pressure for the artery.

An intravascular ultrasound probe is disclosed, incorporating features for utilizing an advanced transducer technology on a rotating transducer shaft. In particular, the probe accommodates the transmission of the multitude of signals across the boundary between the rotary and stationary components of the probe required to support an advanced transducer technology. These advanced transducer technologies offer the potential for increased bandwidth, improved beam profiles, better signal to noise ratio, reduced manufacturing costs, advanced tissue characterization algorithms, and other desirable features. Furthermore, the inclusion of electronic components on the spinning side of the probe can be highly advantageous in terms of preserving maximum signal to noise ratio and signal fidelity, along with other performance benefits.

Systems and methods for harmonic shear wave detection using low frame rate ultrasound, or a three-dimensional (3D) volumetric scan, are provided. As one example, spurious motion sources, such as intrinsic tissue motion and waves that are not at the incident wave harmonic frequency, are removed based on a scanning sequence in which repeated acquisitions from a given subvolume occur closely in time so as to render effects of the spurious motions negligible. As another example, sampling frequency and center frequency are selected such that the spurious motion signal spectra do not overlap with aliased shear wave motion spectra, such that the spurious motions can be filtered.

An image fusion system provides a predicted alignment between images of different modalities and synchronization of the alignment, once acquired. A spatial tracker detects and tracks a position and orientation of an imaging device within an environment. A predicted pose of an anatomical feature can be determined, based on previously acquired image data, with respect to a desired position and orientation of the imaging device. When the imaging device is moved into the desired position and orientation, a relationship is established between the pose of the anatomical feature in the image data and the pose of the anatomical feature imaged by the imaging device. Based on tracking information provided by the spatial tracker, the relationship is maintained even when the imaging device moves to various positions during a procedure.

An apparatus for insertion into a body through a working channel of an endoscope includes a catheter including a dilator, a guide tube disposed in a lumen of the catheter, and a handle including a puncturing actuator operatively coupled to the proximal end of the guide tube. The dilator may be a cautery device and/or a balloon. The apparatus may also include a stylet needle that includes a cutting distal end for puncturing tissue and extends through a lumen in the guide tube. The handle may further include a stopper detachably coupled to the puncturing actuator to fix a position of the puncturing actuator on the handle, and moveable on the handle independently of the puncturing actuator when detached from the puncturing actuator. The disclosed embodiments also include a method for forming a passageway in a wall of a hollow body organ using the apparatus.

The present disclosure relates to a method for scanning a patient in an imaging system. The imaging system may include one or more cameras directed at the patient. The method may include obtaining a position of each of the camera(s) relative to the imaging system. The method may also include obtain image data of the patient captured by the camera(s), wherein the image data may correspond to a first view with respect to the patient. The method may further include generating projection image data of the patient based on the image data and the position of each of the camera(s) relative to the imaging system, wherein the projection image data may correspond to a second view with respect to the patient different from the first view. The method may further include generating control information for scanning the patient based on the projection image data of the patient.

The invention relates to a computer-implemented method for automatically detecting anatomical structures (3) in a medical image (1) of a subject, the method comprising applying an object detector function (4) to the medical image, wherein the object detector function performs the steps of: (A) applying a first neural network (40) to the medical image, wherein the first neural network is trained to detect a first plurality of classes of larger-sized anatomical structures (3a), thereby generating as output the coordinates of at least one first bounding box (51) and the confidence score of it containing a larger-sized anatomical structure; (B) cropping (42) the medical image to the first bounding box, thereby generating a cropped image (11) containing the image content within the first bounding box (51); and (C) applying a second neural network (44) to the cropped medical image, wherein the second neural network is trained to detect at least one second class of smaller-sized anatomical structures (3b), thereby generating as output the coordinates of at least one second bounding box (54) and the confidence score of it containing a smaller-sized anatomical structure.

Disclosed is an ultrasonic blood perfusion imaging method for a single blood vessel, comprising: setting an ultrasound focusing label point in a blood vessel contour of a blood vessel to be measured in a region to be measured; obtaining a preactivated ultrasound image of the region to be measured when an ultrasound contrast agent is in an inactive state; activating the ultrasound contrast agent; obtaining an activated ultrasound image of the region to be measured when the ultrasound contrast agent is in an activated state; obtaining an activation map of the ultrasound contrast agent in the blood vessel to be measured; and obtaining a blood flow perfusion distribution map of the blood vessel to be measured. The ultrasound contrast agent is activated at the ultrasound focusing label point causing liquid-to-gas conversion, and the ultrasound signal changes from dark to bright.

The present invention relates to a method for prognosis the risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in premature infant by adjusting a score obtained from lung ultrasound with the gestational age of the infant.

The present invention relates to a method for prognosis the risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in premature infant by adjusting a score obtained from lung ultrasound with the gestational age of the infant.