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Publication Number
US-10517568-B2
Publication Date
2019-12-31
Expiration Date
Abstract
An ultrasound cover for use with an ultrasound imaging system, a method of examining a patient with ultrasound, and an ultrasound diagnostic system. The ultrasound cover includes a central layer configured to conform to a shape of a patient's body and a plurality of ultrasound sensors positioned within the central layer. The ultrasound cover is positioned on a patent to be examined and conformed to the shape of the patient's body. RF ultrasound signals are acquired from the plurality of sensors and a 3-D model of the patient created from extracted echoes. The cover may be used with a diagnostic system that includes a computer configured to compare ultrasound data to a orthopedic-specific dataset to locate bony boundaries.
Core Innovation
The invention provides a portable ultrasound examination approach in which an ultrasound cover is positioned on a patient. The ultrasound cover includes a body drape with at least two layers, where a first layer conforms to a patient body shape, and the first layer includes a vacuum passage and a plurality of apertures coupled to the vacuum passage, with a plurality of ultrasound sensors positioned within the first layer.
The system acquires raw RF ultrasound signals from the ultrasound sensors and extracts a plurality of echoes directly from the raw RF ultrasound signals. Using at least one echo from the extracted echoes, a 3-D model of a portion of the patient body is created, and the extracted echoes are used to form structural representations such as bone contours.
To generate patient-specific 3-D bone models, a statistical bone atlas is used to morph or optimize bone models using principal component analysis and constrained shape descriptors, producing a patient-specific 3-D bone model. A diagnostic system compares the generated 3-D models against an orthopedic-specific dataset using neural network classification, and outputs injury diagnoses while highlighting suspected trauma-related conditions such as air/fluid/hemorrhage and other trauma conditions.
Claims Coverage
The independent claim set contains two independent claims, a method and an ultrasound diagnostic system. Across these independent claims, the coverage centers on the ultrasound cover geometry with vacuum passage and apertures, acquisition of raw RF ultrasound signals, direct echo extraction, creation of a 3-D patient model including bone representations, and comparison to an orthopedic-specific dataset for bony boundary localization and diagnosis.
Ultrasound cover with vacuum passage and apertures
An ultrasound cover comprising a body drape having at least two layers, wherein a first layer is configured to conform to a shape of a patient's body, the first layer comprising a vacuum passage and a plurality of apertures coupled to the vacuum passage, and a plurality of ultrasound sensors positioned within the first layer.
Direct echo extraction from raw RF ultrasound signals
Acquiring raw RF ultrasound signals from at least one of the plurality of ultrasound sensors and extracting a plurality of echoes directly from the raw RF ultrasound signals.
Creating a 3-D model using extracted echoes
Creating a 3-D model of a portion of the patient's body using at least one echo from the plurality of echoes extracted directly from the raw RF ultrasound signals.
Locating bony boundaries by comparing raw RF data to an orthopedic-specific bone morphology dataset
An orthopedic-specific dataset including data relating to a plurality of patient bones that statistically models a morphology of a bone, where the computer is configured to acquire raw RF ultrasound data-signals and to locate bony boundaries by comparing the raw RF ultrasound signals to the orthopedic-specific dataset.
The claims cover a body-conforming ultrasound cover with a vacuum passage and apertures coupled to the vacuum passage and sensors within the first layer, direct extraction of echoes from raw RF ultrasound signals, creation of a 3-D model from those echoes, and system-level locating of bony boundaries by comparing raw RF signals to an orthopedic-specific dataset that statistically models bone morphology.
Stated Advantages
Not explicitly described in patent.
Documented Applications
Not explicitly described in patent.
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