An ultrasound system including: a scanner module including a housing including a first fastener element, an ultrasound transducer, a rotational actuator, and an electronics module; and a positioner module including a second fastener element; operable between a first mode, wherein the first and second fastener elements cooperatively couple the scanner module to the positioner module, and a second mode, wherein the scanner module and positioner modules are separate. An ultrasound system including: a housing including a handle region and a membrane; an ultrasound transducer; a reservoir; a rotational actuator; and an electronics module.

Devices, systems, and methods of imaging a blood vessel are provided. For example, the method can include obtaining fluoroscopic image data of a region of interest in a blood vessel using an x-ray source; obtaining intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) data at a plurality of positions across the region of interest using an IVUS component disposed on an intravascular device; processing the fluoroscopic image data and IVUS data, including: determining, using the fluoroscopic image data, a position of the intravascular device with respect to the x-ray source at each of the plurality of positions across the region of interest; co-registering the fluoroscopic image data and the IVUS image data; and generating, a model of the region of interest including position information of a border of a lumen of the blood vessel at each of the plurality of locations; and outputting a visual representation of the model of the region of interest.

Technology for guiding a user to collect clinically usable ultrasound images is described. In some embodiments, an ultrasound device may automatically change the elevational steering angle of its ultrasound beam (e.g., using beamforming) in order to collect ultrasound data from different imaging planes within the subject. A processing device in operative communication with the ultrasound device may select one of the collected ultrasound images based on its quality (e.g., select the ultrasound image having the highest quality), and then continue to collect ultrasound images using the elevational steering angle at which the selected ultrasound image was collected.

Systems and methods are disclosed that facilitate obtaining two dimensional (2D) ultrasound images, using two or more ultrasound imaging modes or modalities, to generate 2D multi-parametric ultrasound (mpUS) images and/or to generate a three-dimensional (3D) mpUS image. The different ultrasound imaging modes acquire images in a common frame of reference during a single procedure to facilitate their registration. The mpUS images (i.e., 2D or 3D) may be used for enhanced and/or automated detection of one or more suspicious regions. After identifying one or more suspicious regions, the mpUS images may be utilized with a real-time image to guide biopsy or therapy the region(s). All these processes may be performed in a single medical procedure.

Systems and methods are disclosed that facilitate obtaining two dimensional (2D) ultrasound images, using two or more ultrasound imaging modes or modalities, to generate 2D multi-parametric ultrasound (mpUS) images and/or to generate a three-dimensional (3D) mpUS image. The different ultrasound imaging modes acquire images in a common frame of reference during a single procedure to facilitate their registration. The mpUS images (i.e., 2D or 3D) may be used for enhanced and/or automated detection of one or more suspicious regions. After identifying one or more suspicious regions, the mpUS images may be utilized with a real-time image to guide biopsy or therapy the region(s). All these processes may be performed in a single medical procedure.

A method for tracking an interventional medical device in a patient includes interleaving, by an imaging probe external to the patient, a pulse sequence of imaging beams and tracking beams to obtain an interleaved pulse sequence. The method also includes transmitting, from the imaging probe to the interventional medical device in the patient, the interleaved pulse sequence. The method further includes determining, based on a response to the tracking beams received from a sensor on the interventional medical device, a location of the sensor in the patient.

A hand-held ultrasound system includes integrated electronics within an ergonomic housing. The electronics includes control circuitry, beamforming and circuitry transducer drive circuitry. The electronics communicate with a host computer using an industry standard high speed serial bus. The ultrasonic imaging system is operable on a standard, commercially available, user computing device without specific hardware modifications, and is adapted to interface with an external application without modification to the ultrasonic imaging system to allow a user to gather ultrasonic data on a standard user computing device such as a PC, and employ the data so gathered via an independent external application without requiring a custom system, expensive hardware modifications, or system rebuilds. An integrated interface program allows such ultrasonic data to be invoked by a variety of such external applications having access to the integrated interface program via a standard, predetermined platform such as visual basic or c++.

A system for tracking an instrument with ultrasound includes a probe (122) for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic energy and a transducer (130) associated with the probe and configured to move with the probe during use. A medical instrument (102) includes a sensor (120) configured to respond to the ultrasonic energy received from the probe. A control module (124) is stored in memory and configured to interpret the ultrasonic energy received from the probe and the sensor to determine a three dimensional location of the medical instrument and to inject a signal to the probe from the transducer to highlight a position of the sensor in an image.

Multifunctional ultrasound systems and methods for body section registration and mapping of microbubble dynamics. A system is provided that includes one or more micromachined ultrasonic transducer arrays (MUTAs) configured to capture a high-resolution image of at least a portion of a body section using ultrasound and monitor microbubble activity during ultrasound treatment. The system includes an image registration module configured to spatially register the high-resolution image with a reference image. The system includes electronics configured to control one or more of drive signal amplitude, frequency filtering, multiplexing, and DC bias voltage. The system can be configured to control ultrasound treatment based on the monitoring of the microbubble activity during treatment.

Provided is an ultrasound system including an ultrasound probe and an image display device. The ultrasound probe includes: a transducer array, a transmitting and receiving unit that generates a sound ray signal on the basis of a reception signal from the transducer array; an image information data generation unit that generates image information data from the sound ray signal; and a probe-side wireless communication unit that transmits the image information data to the image display device. The image display device includes: an operating state acquisition unit that acquires an operating state of the image display device; and a display-device-side wireless communication unit that transmits the operating state to the ultrasound probe. The ultrasound probe includes at least one of an ultrasound transmission and reception control unit that controls transmission and reception of the ultrasonic waves on the basis of the operating state of the image display device or an output format setting unit that sets an output format of the image information data on the basis of the operating state of the image display device.