Surgery – Truss – Pad
Patent
1990-05-09
1992-01-21
Jaworski, Francis
Surgery
Truss
Pad
128916, 12866109, 12866206, 128 4, A61B 802
Patent
active
050819933
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for the examination and treatment of internal organs of the human body.
It is already known to make an internal examination of an internal human organ, without recourse to surgery, by means of optically based equipment and also by means of equipment which makes use of the transmission and receipt of ultrasonic signals. The present invention is concerned with the latter approach and with providing a system and apparatus which will enable the shortcomings of existing equipment to be overcome thus providing the medical practitioner and hence the patient with the opportunity for a more accurate and timely diagnosis and hence treatment.
As indicated earlier it is known to use ultrasonic signals in order to create a visual representation of the interior of an internal human organ. In one known method a probe capable of emitting and receiving an ultrasonic signal is moved over the outside of the human body and a continuous two-dimensional visual representation of the internal cross-section of the human organ is generated from the ultrasonic signals reflected or attenuated by the organ. Whilst such equipment is easy to operate the visual representation of the interior of the organ is not very accurate and in any event is in only two dimensions.
The known prior art approaches to the problem of providing the medical practitioner with an accurate and useful visual representation of the interior of the human organ have concentrated on producing a real-time continuous two-dimensional image. This approach has inherent disadvantages which become particularly acute where it is desired to make an internal examination of an organ having a relatively small cross-section, in particular a human artery.
The present invention approaches this problem from the unexpected appreciation that a continuous real-time image is not necessary in order to enable the medical practitioner to obtain a clear internal picture of the organ.
According to the present invention a method for providing an image of the interior of a human organ or for visualising the flow of blood through it involves firing ultrasonic signals either from inside or outside the organ, detecting the echoes of those signals, digitising the echo signals, storing the digitised echo signals in a digital computer, manipulating the stored digitised echo signals in such a way as to provide an output from the computer which will give a three-dimensional visual representation of the interior of the organ which representation can be manipulated to enable the representation to be viewed from different aspects.
The signals obtained by the method of the present invention can also be used to provide so-called "tissue characterisation", that is information on the internal composition or make-up of tissue such as plaque which has formed on the inside of an artery. Such information would be of assistance to the medical practitioner in arriving at a diagnosis and a decision as to appropriate treatment.
The invention can be used to "characterise" live or dead tissue, i.e. it can also be used in connection with the field of pathology.
In the case of an artery, the ultrasonic signals would be fired from within the artery whereas it would also be possible for example to generate an image of the heart by means of ultrasonic signals fired from outside the heart but from within the human body itself.
According to the present invention, equipment for providing an image of the interior of a human organ comprises a combination of the following features: them into digital signals; enable a three-dimensional representation of the organ to be created and that representation to itself be manipulated to enable the respresentation to be viewed from different aspects and also to enable the structural make-up of tissue to be visually represented; and three-dimensional representation. equipment referred to earlier comprises: or transducer elements which encircle the probe at or near one of its ends; and of the catheter, which means either incorporates a
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Kitney Richard I.
Rothman Martin T.
Straughan Keith
Circulation Research Limited
Goldberg Richard M.
Jaworski Francis
Manuel George
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