US 11,986,682 B2
Ultrasound autofocusing using reflections
Oleg Prus, Haifa (IL); and Yoav Levy, Hinanit (IL)
Assigned to Insightec Ltd., Tirat Carmel (IL)
Appl. No. 16/314,985
Filed by Oleg Prus, Haifa (IL); and Yoav Levy, Hinanit (IL)
PCT Filed Aug. 3, 2017, PCT No. PCT/IB2017/000990
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 3, 2019,
PCT Pub. No. WO2018/020315, PCT Pub. Date Feb. 1, 2018.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/366,200, filed on Jul. 25, 2016.
Prior Publication US 2019/0308038 A1, Oct. 10, 2019
Int. Cl. A61B 8/00 (2006.01); A61B 8/08 (2006.01); A61N 7/02 (2006.01); A61B 17/00 (2006.01); A61B 17/22 (2006.01); A61B 90/00 (2016.01); A61N 7/00 (2006.01)
CPC A61N 7/02 (2013.01) [A61B 8/0808 (2013.01); A61B 8/4488 (2013.01); A61B 8/4494 (2013.01); A61B 8/481 (2013.01); A61B 8/585 (2013.01); A61B 2017/00106 (2013.01); A61B 2017/22008 (2013.01); A61B 2090/378 (2016.02); A61N 2007/0039 (2013.01); A61N 2007/0052 (2013.01); A61N 2007/0078 (2013.01); A61N 2007/0095 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for focusing an ultrasound transducer comprising:
an ultrasound transducer comprising a plurality of transducer elements; and
a controller configured to:
(a) cause generation of one or more microbubbles in a target region using the ultrasound transducer;
(b) transmit ultrasound waves, based on initial parameter values associated with the transducer elements, to the target region;
(c) cause a detector device or a sub-region of the ultrasound transducer to measure reflections of the ultrasound waves transmitted in step (b) off at least one of the one or more microbubbles in the target region;
(d) based at least in part on the measured reflections, adjust a parameter value associated with at least one of the transducer elements;
(e) transmit ultrasound waves, based on the adjusted parameter value, to the target region;
(f) cause the detector device or the sub-region of the ultrasound transducer to measure reflections of the ultrasound waves transmitted in step (e) off at least one of the one or more microbubbles in the target region; and
(g) repeat steps (d), (e), and (f) until a stopping condition is satisfied,
wherein the stopping condition corresponds to a deviation between (i) a phase difference between ultrasound waves transmitted in step (e) and measured reflections thereof and (ii) a phase difference between ultrasound waves transmitted in a previous iteration of step (e) and measured reflections thereof, being below a threshold.