Fibrosis measurement device, fibrosis measurement method and property measurement device
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Publication Number
US-12551156-B2
Publication Date
2026-02-17
Expiration Date
Abstract
A fibrosis measurement device that measures fibrosis of a biological tissue non-invasively includes: a sound wave emitter that performs scanning over a surface of a biological tissue as a measurement object to emit sound waves; an electromagnetic wave receiver that receives an electromagnetic wave generated at each location of a biological tissue irradiated with sound waves; a signal extractor that extracts a signal indicating physical property, based on at least one selected from a group including the amplitude, phase, and frequency of an electromagnetic wave received by the electromagnetic wave receiver; an imaging unit that images signals extracted by the signal extractor; and an area comparison unit that compares the area of a portion of the two-dimensional image in which signals indicating a property are displayed, with an area corresponding to a preset threshold of the strength of the signals.
Core Innovation
A non-invasive fibrosis measurement system measures fibrosis of a biological tissue by performing scanning with a sound wave emitter so that emitted sound waves are concentrated on a plurality of locations of the biological tissue. At each sound-wave concentrated location, an electromagnetic wave generated in response to the irradiated biological tissue is received by an electromagnetic wave receiver, and a signal indicating at least one property selected from electrical properties, magnetic properties, electromechanical properties, and magnetomechanical properties is extracted based on the amplitude, phase, and frequency of the received electromagnetic wave.
Signals extracted by the signal extractor are imaged as a two-dimensional image by an imaging unit. An area comparison unit compares the area of a portion of the two-dimensional image in which signals indicating the property are displayed with an area corresponding to a predetermined threshold of the strength of the signals, and this comparison is used to extract the signals actually caused by fibrosis of a biological tissue from noise.
The sound wave emitter includes a plurality of piezoelectric elements disposed on a concave curved surface. The concave curved surface is shaped so that the sound waves direct along directions perpendicular to the surface and converge at a single focal point located at a target tissue, and the system is further enhanced by extracting property signals based on echo receiver timing and by using a delay material between the sound wave emitter and the biological tissue to prevent excitation and noise overlap.
The disclosed approach is used for fibrosis of biological tissue including an organ, muscle, or skin, and is described in relation to kidney fibrosis. The document also describes a simplified property-measurement device including an electromagnetic receiver with a resonant circuit and an electrostatic antenna, for measuring signals based on received electromagnetic waves.
Claims Coverage
The partial content includes two independent claims (a device and a method). Across them, the claims cover a non-invasive measurement chain that scans biological tissue with a sound wave emitter to concentrate sound-wave focal locations, receives electromagnetic waves generated at those locations, extracts tissue-property signals from amplitude, phase, and frequency, images the signals in a two-dimensional image, and distinguishes fibrosis-caused signals from noise by comparing a signal-displayed image area to a predetermined threshold, using a multi-piezo concave sound lens focusing to a single focal point.
Non-invasive fibrosis measurement device with concave curved multi-piezo sound lens and electromagnetic wave property extraction
A fibrosis measurement device that non-invasively scans a biological tissue with a sound wave emitter to concentrate sound waves on a plurality of locations; receives an electromagnetic wave generated at each irradiated location; extracts a signal indicating at least one property selected from electrical properties, magnetic properties, electromechanical properties, and magnetomechanical properties based on the amplitude, phase, and frequency of the received electromagnetic wave; images the extracted signals as a two-dimensional image; and compares the area of a portion of the two-dimensional image in which property-indicating signals are displayed with an area corresponding to a predetermined threshold of the strength of the signals to extract signals actually caused by fibrosis from noise; wherein a plurality of piezoelectric elements are disposed on a concave curved surface shaped to direct the sound waves along directions perpendicular to the surface and converge at a single focal point located at a target tissue.
Non-invasive fibrosis measurement method with scanning ultrasound focal concentration and image-area threshold noise extraction
A fibrosis measurement method for non-invasively measuring fibrosis of a biological tissue by performing scanning over a surface to emit sound waves that are concentrated on a plurality of locations; receiving an electromagnetic wave generated at each location of a biological tissue irradiated with the sound waves; extracting a signal indicating at least one property selected from electrical properties, magnetic properties, electromechanical properties, and magnetomechanical properties based on the amplitude, phase, and frequency of a received electromagnetic wave; imaging the extracted signals as a two-dimensional image; and comparing the area of a portion of the two-dimensional image in which signals indicating the property are displayed with an area corresponding to a predetermined threshold of the strength of the signals to extract the signals caused by fibrosis of a biological tissue from noise; wherein a plurality of piezoelectric elements are disposed on a concave curved surface shaped so that the sound waves direct along directions perpendicular to the surface and converge at a single focal point located at a target tissue.
The independent claims jointly require non-invasive scanning with a sound wave emitter whose piezoelectric elements on a concave curved surface focus sound to a single focal point, reception of electromagnetic waves generated at multiple focal locations, property signal extraction from electromagnetic-wave amplitude, phase, and frequency, two-dimensional imaging of extracted signals, and fibrosis-vs-noise discrimination by comparing a displayed signal area to a predetermined threshold of signal strength.
Stated Advantages
Extracts signals actually caused by fibrosis of a biological tissue from noise by comparing the area of a portion of the two-dimensional image with a predetermined threshold of the strength of the signals.
Documented Applications
Measuring fibrosis of biological tissue including an organ, muscle, or skin, with configuration described for measuring fibrosis of a kidney.
Experimental example indicating that kidney fibrosis yields larger signal-area ratios versus normal kidney.
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