Surgery – Diagnostic testing – Detecting nuclear – electromagnetic – or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-05
2001-07-24
Lateef, Marvin M. (Department: 3737)
Surgery
Diagnostic testing
Detecting nuclear, electromagnetic, or ultrasonic radiation
Reexamination Certificate
active
06264610
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates primarily to the field of imaging and, more specifically, to an apparatus for the combined use of ultrasound and near infrared diffused light imaging.
Ultrasound imaging is a well-developed medical diagnostic that is used extensively for differentiation of cysts from solid lesions in breast examinations, and it is routinely used in conjunction with mammography to differentiate simple cysts from solid lesions. Ultrasound can detect breast lesions that are a few millimeters in size; however, its specificity in breast cancer detection is not high as a result of the overlapping characteristics of benign and malignant lesions. The sonography appearance of benign and malignant lesions have considerable overlapping features, which has prompted many radiologists to recommend biopsies on most solid nodules. Thus, the insufficient specificity provided by ultrasound results in a large number of biopsies yielding benign breast masses or benign breast tissue (currently 70 to 80 percent of biopsies yield benign changes).
Recently, optical diagnostics, based on diffusing near infrared (NIR) light, have been employed in breast cancer detection. Functional imaging with NIR light is made possible in a spectrum window that exists within tissues in the 700-900 nm NIR region, in which photon transport is dominated by scattering rather than absorption. Functional imaging with NIR light offers several tissue parameters to differentiate tumors from normal breast tissue. For example, functional imaging with NIR light has the potential to differentiate tumors from normal breast tissue through determination of blood volume, blood O
2
saturation, tissue light scattering, water concentration, and the concentration and lifetime of exogenous contrast agents.
While NIR imaging has the potential to improve tumor specificity, its relatively low resolution makes it unsuitable for morphological diagnosis. Its resolution is intrinsically limited by the diffusive nature of NIR light in tissue. Currently, typical NIR imaging instruments can distinguish simple structures approximately 1 centimeter in size; however, sharp edges are typically blurred by a few millimeters. Unfortunately, the relatively poor resolution of the optical reconstruction makes it difficult to take full advantage of the improved tumor specificity that would otherwise be provided by NIR imaging.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a novel design of a hybrid imaging probe consisting of a two-dimensional ultrasound array and near infrared light sources and detectors. The hybrid probe enables co-registration of ultrasound and near infrared diffusive light images of the tissue volume underneath the probe. Co-registered images provide high spatial resolution which is inherited from ultrasound imaging and high contrast from near infrared imaging. Co-registered images allow joint evaluation of tissue acoustic and optical parameters which will lead to the improved detection and diagnosis of cancers.
A combined ultrasound and diffused light probe for use in imaging of a medium includes a plurality of piezoelectric elements configured in a two-dimensional matrix (2-D array) to transmit ultrasound waves to the medium. The plurality of piezoelectric elements are also configured to receive ultrasound echoes from targets in the medium and to transform the ultrasound echoes into electrical signals. The probe further includes a near-infrared light source fiber and a near-infrared light detector fiber arranged proximate to the plurality of piezoelectric elements. The source and detector fibers are coupled to a light source and detector mounted on a near infrared system. The near-infrared light source is configured to project photon diffusion waves into the medium, and the near-infrared light detector is configured to detect reflected photon diffusion waves from targets in the medium.
In one embodiment, the plurality of piezoelectric elements are coupled to an ultrasound imaging system and the near-infrared light source and near-infrared light detector are coupled to a near-infrared imaging system. Because of the co-axial arrangement of the 2-D ultrasound array and near-infrared sensors, the ultrasound and near-infrared light images of the medium are co-registered. Therefore, an output display can be arranged to display the outputs or images of both systems with the same dimensions.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5713356 (1998-02-01), Kruger
patent: 5999836 (1999-12-01), Nelson et al.
Cantor & Colburn LLP
Lateef Marvin M.
Patel Maulin
The University Of Connecticut
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