Patents Examined by Long V. Le
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Patent number: 9814444Abstract: Among other things, there is disclosed structure and methods for registering images obtained through internal (e.g. intravascular) ultrasound devices. Embodiments of a device with a rotating ultrasound beam is provided, with a wall of the device being anisotropic in ultrasound passage. As examples, a cable opaque to ultrasound is attached along the wall of the device, so that the ultrasound beam at the location of the cable is blocked, reflected or scattered. As another example, a thin film of metallic material is placed on or in the wall to allow a portion of the beam to be blocked or attenuated. The imaging system recognizes the changes to the signals made by the anisotropic wall, and registers successive images according to those changes.Type: GrantFiled: October 11, 2013Date of Patent: November 14, 2017Assignee: Muffin IncorporatedInventors: Neal E. Fearnot, Peter S. McKinnis, Sarah Robbins, Yun Zhou
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Patent number: 9814392Abstract: A visual tracking and annotation system for surgical intervention includes an image acquisition and display system arranged to obtain image streams of a surgical region of interest and of a surgical instrument proximate the surgical region of interest and to display acquired images to a user; a tracking system configured to track the surgical instrument relative to the surgical region of interest; a data storage system in communication with the image acquisition and display system and the tracking system; and a data processing system in communication with the data storage system, the image acquisition and display system and the tracking system. The data processing system is configured to annotate images displayed to the user in response to an input signal from the user.Type: GrantFiled: November 1, 2010Date of Patent: November 14, 2017Assignee: THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITYInventors: Marcin A. Balicki, Russell H. Taylor, Gregory D. Hager, Peter L. Gehlbach, James T. Handa, Rajesh Kumar
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Patent number: 9808310Abstract: Methods and devices for both imaging and treating uterine fibroid tumors in one real-time system are provided. One minimally invasive method comprises introducing a sheath into a uterus and determining a location of a fibroid using a visualization element within or on the sheath. Upon identification, a portion of the sheath is steered to position at least one treatment needle at the determined location. The needle is then anchored in uterine tissue and the fibroid treated with the needle.Type: GrantFiled: December 20, 2010Date of Patent: November 7, 2017Assignee: Gynesonics, Inc.Inventor: Jessica Grossman
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Patent number: 9808223Abstract: An ultrasound probe includes: a first arm that swings along with rotation of a motor and includes a protrusion; a second arm that rotates along with rotation of a second gear engaged with a first gear attached to a first rotational shaft; a third arm attached to the second arm such that the third arm is rotatable with respect to the second arm; and an ultrasound device connected with the third arm. The protrusion of the first arm is connected with the third arm such that the protrusion is slidable on the third arm along the longitudinal direction of the third arm.Type: GrantFiled: July 19, 2013Date of Patent: November 7, 2017Assignee: KONICA MINOLTA, INC.Inventor: Kiyoshi Fujii
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Patent number: 9801611Abstract: In one aspect, the present subject matter is directed to a barrier device. The barrier device has a generally flat base with a width and a length. The base has a top portion and an opposite bottom portion. A surface of the bottom portion includes adhesive. A barrier extends upwardly from the base, the barrier having a generally flat first side and an opposite generally flat second side. A width between the first side of the barrier and the second side of the barrier is less than the width of the base.Type: GrantFiled: November 14, 2013Date of Patent: October 31, 2017Assignee: University of South CarolinaInventors: Richard A. Hoppmann, Debra Krotish, Shaun Riffle
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Patent number: 9782148Abstract: An ultrasound catheter includes an elongated body, a first and second ablation element each configured to ablate soft tissue and an imaging core having an ultrasound transducer. In another example, an ultrasound catheter includes an elongated body, a RF ablator configured to ablate soft tissue at a frequency less than 1 MHz, and an ultrasound transducer configured to image at a frequency greater than or equal to 10 MHz. In another example, an ultrasound catheter apparatus includes an ultrasound catheter having an ablator and an ultrasound transducer, and a graphical user interface displayed using a computer processor. The graphical user interface displays a real-time image of a treatment area and the ultrasound catheter, and a chart displaying ablation as a function of time, the chart being updated in real-time.Type: GrantFiled: November 28, 2012Date of Patent: October 10, 2017Assignee: ACIST Medical Systems, Inc.Inventors: Kendall R. Waters, Thomas C. Moore, Robert Zelenka, Richard Bautista
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Patent number: 9782200Abstract: A neuromonitoring needle electrode placement gun which includes a housing, at least a first needle electrode and housing assembly, an elongated channel dimensioned and configured for accommodating axial movement of the at least a first needle electrode and housing assembly within the channel and for directing movement of the at least a first needle electrode and housing assembly and a pusher dimensioned and configured for engaging the at least a first needle electrode and housing assembly and for axially displacing the at least a first needle electrode and housing assembly.Type: GrantFiled: February 9, 2014Date of Patent: October 10, 2017Inventor: John E Burbank
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Patent number: 9775681Abstract: A surgical apparatus includes a surgical device, configured to be manipulated by a user to perform a procedure on a patient, and a computer system. The computer system is programmed to implement control parameters for controlling the surgical device to provide at least one of haptic guidance to the user and a limit on user manipulation of the surgical device, based on a relationship between an anatomy of the patient and at least one of a position, an orientation, a velocity, and an acceleration of a portion of the surgical device, and to adjust the control parameters in response to movement of the anatomy during the procedure.Type: GrantFiled: August 1, 2011Date of Patent: October 3, 2017Assignee: MAKO Surgical Corp.Inventors: Arthur Quaid, Hyosig Kang, Dennis Moses, Rony Abovitz, Scott Illsley
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Patent number: 9775587Abstract: A biopsy device is proposed comprising a shaft and a tubular member. The shaft is movably, i.e. rotatably as well as shiftably accommodated within the tubular member and comprises a spiral at a distal end portion of the shaft, wherein the spiral is formed by a twisted sheet. Such a spiral may be considered as a laterally open thread having no solid core.Type: GrantFiled: November 22, 2013Date of Patent: October 3, 2017Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.Inventors: Waltherus Cornelis Jozef Bierhoff, Franciscus Marinus Antonius Maria Van Gaal, Bernardus Hendrikus Wilhelmus Hendriks, Vishnu Vardhan Pully
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Patent number: 9775966Abstract: A catheter system includes a handle and a catheter component operatively connected to the handle for selective adjustment by an actuator associated with the handle housing. The actuator comprises at least in part a generally cylindrical shuttle disposed at least in part within the housing for longitudinal movement. The catheter component is operatively coupled to the shuttle for movement therewith. The shuttle has an outer surface with an annular groove formed therein, and an elastomeric ring seated in the annular groove. An annular slide bearing is retained in the housing, with the shuttle being in part disposed in the annular groove and with the elastomeric ring in frictional contact with the slide bearing. Friction between the elastomeric ring and the slide bearing is sufficient to frictionally retain the shuttle at a selected longitudinal position relative to the housing corresponding to a selected adjustment of the catheter component.Type: GrantFiled: March 7, 2014Date of Patent: October 3, 2017Assignee: St. Jude Medical, Cardiology Division, Inc.Inventors: James Paul Goodman, Kevin Gin Park, Bradley C. Knippel
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Patent number: 9775581Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for determining inhomogeneity in a portion of animal tissue, which provides for the arrangement beforehand of a 3-dimensional density map of said portion of tissue; the map is obtained by means of computed tomography and therefore is formed by a plurality of voxels (VX); for each voxel (VX) of the map, respectively considered as the central voxel (VXC), the following steps are carried out:—determining a space (CC) surrounding the central voxel (VXC) and containing a group of peripheral voxels (VXP),—for each peripheral voxel (VXP) of the group, calculating a value proportional to the ratio or the difference between the density of the peripheral voxel (VXP) and the density of the central voxel (VXC), thus obtaining a plurality of values,—calculating the maximum value and/or the minimum value and/or the average value and/or a statistical partitioning value of these values, thus obtaining a local indicator of inhomogeneity in the animal tissue in correspondence to the ceType: GrantFiled: December 11, 2012Date of Patent: October 3, 2017Assignee: FONDAZIONE IRCCS CA' GRANDA OSPEDALE MAGGIORE POLICLINICOInventors: Luciano Gattinoni, Paolo Cadringher, Massimo Cressoni
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Patent number: 9770262Abstract: Embodiments include a fiducial deployment system with a handle configured for actuation of same. A fiducial may include one or more protuberances configured to engage one or more slots in a needle of the system. The needle may be configured to deliver a plurality of fiducials to a target location in serial fashion, one at a time. In certain embodiments, echogenic placement of fiducials may present certain advantages. The handle includes an actuation mechanism with rotatable housing portion or member configured for incrementally or otherwise controlledly deploy one or more fiducials at a time by advancing a stylet through and/or retracting the body of a slotted needle in which fiducials are disposed with a fiducial protrusion extending into the needle slot, which also includes retaining structures that do not impede the needle lumen.Type: GrantFiled: May 14, 2015Date of Patent: September 26, 2017Assignee: Cook Medical Technologies LLCInventors: Michael Clancy, Darach McGrath, Triona Campbell, Patrick Mulcahy, Fionan Keady, Ciaran Toomey
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Patent number: 9770198Abstract: A sensor which is adapted to attach to a head of a subject includes a first fastener that includes a first end portion and a second end portion and extends into an arc-shape, a first coupling portion that is disposed on an inner circumference side of the first fastener, a second fastener that has a first through hole and a second through hole, a second coupling portion that is disposed on a first side of the second fastener, and attachable to and detachable from the first coupling portion, a light emitter that is disposed on the first side of the second fastener, and opposed to the first through hole, and a light detector that is disposed on the first side of the second fastener, and opposed to the second through hole.Type: GrantFiled: September 10, 2014Date of Patent: September 26, 2017Assignee: NIHON KOHDEN CORPORATIONInventor: Hideki Fujisaki
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Patent number: 9770304Abstract: A multimodal fiducial marker for registration of multimodal data, including a first portion comprising magnetic material visible in magnetic particle imaging (MPI) data obtained by a magnetic particle imaging method and a second portion comprising a second material visible in image data obtained by another imaging method, which image data is registrable with the MPI data and a corresponding marker arrangement.Type: GrantFiled: January 22, 2013Date of Patent: September 26, 2017Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.Inventors: Jürgen Erwin Rahmer, Bernhard Gleich, Jörn Borgert, Michael Harald Kuhn
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Patent number: 9766316Abstract: The estimation accuracy of a magnetic susceptibility value of tissue is improved by computing an edge image which represents the edge of the tissue on a magnetic susceptibility distribution and to reduce background noise without lowering the magnetic susceptibility value of the tissue. The present invention computes an absolute value image and a phase image from a complex image obtained by MRI, from the phase image, computes a low frequency region magnetic susceptibility image in which background noise is greater than a desired value, computes an edge information magnetic susceptibility image and computes a high frequency region magnetic susceptibility image, computes an edge mask from the edge information magnetic susceptibility image, smooths a magic angle region from the edge mask and the low frequency region magnetic susceptibility image and finally smooths a high frequency region using the high frequency region magnetic susceptibility image.Type: GrantFiled: November 16, 2012Date of Patent: September 19, 2017Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.Inventors: Ryota Sato, Toru Shirai, Yo Taniguchi, Yoshihisa Soutome, Yoshitaka Bito
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Patent number: 9763615Abstract: The present invention provides a device and a method for monitoring the bladder volume of a subject. A device for monitoring the bladder volume of a subject comprises a sensor to be attached to a region on the exterior surface of the abdomen of the subject, the region corresponding to the bladder of the subject, the sensor being configured to obtain a sensor signal indicating the bladder volume of the subject; a controlling unit configured to generate a control action signal if it determines, based on the sensor signal, that the change of the bladder volume of the subject exceeds a predetermined amount; an ultrasound probe to be attached to the subject and configured to emit, in response to the control signal, an ultrasonic signal toward the bladder of the subject and receive echo signals from the bladder of the subject; a deriving unit configured to derive the bladder volume of the subject from the received echo signals.Type: GrantFiled: January 28, 2015Date of Patent: September 19, 2017Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.Inventor: Jingping Xu
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Patent number: 9761004Abstract: A method and system for automatic coronary stenosis detection in computed tomography (CT) data is disclosed. Coronary artery centerlines are obtained in an input cardiac CT volume. A trained classifier, such as a probabilistic boosting tree (PBT) classifier, is used to detect stenosis regions along the centerlines in the input cardiac CT volume. The classifier classifies each of the control points that define the coronary artery centerlines as a stenosis point or a non-stenosis point.Type: GrantFiled: June 18, 2009Date of Patent: September 12, 2017Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GmbHInventors: Sushil Mittal, Yefeng Zheng, Bogdan Georgescu, Fernando Vega-Higuera, Dorin Comaniciu
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Patent number: 9757037Abstract: Apparatus for real-time in vivo bioluminescence monitoring in a conscious small animal, comprising a light-tight enclosure (4) with a base (16), side wall (19) and cover (20) configured for housing the small animal such that it may move freely, a bioluminescence detector system (6) comprising a light detector (22) for detecting the light emitted by said small animal connected to a data processing system, and a life-sustaining system (8) configured for maintaining the small animal alive for a prolonged period of time spanning from a few days to a few weeks.Type: GrantFiled: April 17, 2012Date of Patent: September 12, 2017Assignee: UNIVERSITE DE GENEVEInventors: Ueli Schibler, Andre Liani, Camille Saini, Luigi Bonacina, Jean-Pierre Wolf
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Patent number: 9750413Abstract: Diffuse optical tomography systems and methods are described herein. In a general embodiment, the diffuse optical tomography system comprises a plurality of sensor heads, the plurality of sensor heads comprising respective optical emitter systems and respective sensor systems. A sensor head in the plurality of sensors heads is caused to act as an illuminator, such that its optical emitter system transmits a transillumination beam towards a portion of a sample. Other sensor heads in the plurality of sensor heads act as observers, detecting portions of the transillumination beam that radiate from the sample in the fields of view of the respective sensory systems of the other sensor heads. Thus, sensor heads in the plurality of sensors heads generate sensor data in parallel.Type: GrantFiled: October 3, 2013Date of Patent: September 5, 2017Assignee: National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLCInventors: John V. Sandusky, Todd A. Pitts
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Patent number: 9737370Abstract: A patient reference device is provided for use during a medical procedure. The patient reference device includes a housing having a back side and a front side, at least three tracking markers attached to the front side of the housing, the housing extending around the at least three tracking markers and beyond a horizontal plane defined by tops of the at least three tracking markers, the housing terminating at a substantially continuous edge, and a sterile cover attached to the substantially continuous edge of the housing for covering the housing and the tracking markers.Type: GrantFiled: October 14, 2014Date of Patent: August 22, 2017Assignee: SYNAPTIVE MEDICAL (BARBADOS) INC.Inventors: Leila Kheradpir, William Lau, Gal Sela, Josh Richmond, Vivek Saini