US 12,376,829 B2
Elastography device and method
Laurent Sandrin, Bourg-la-Reine (FR); and Stéphane Audiere, Paris (FR)
Assigned to ECHOSENS, Paris (FR)
Filed by ECHOSENS, Paris (FR)
Filed on Jul. 10, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/349,630.
Application 18/349,630 is a continuation of application No. 17/371,790, filed on Jul. 9, 2021, granted, now 11,872,082.
Prior Publication US 2023/0346350 A1, Nov. 2, 2023
Int. Cl. A61B 8/00 (2006.01); A61B 8/08 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 8/485 (2013.01) [A61B 8/42 (2013.01); A61B 8/4444 (2013.01); A61B 8/4477 (2013.01); A61B 8/4483 (2013.01); A61B 8/5207 (2013.01); A61B 2562/0219 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An elastography device comprising:
a probe, to be held against the body of a subject, the probe comprising:
a single ultrasound transducer; or a plurality of ultrasound transducers, all ultrasound transducers of the probe being motionless with respect to each other, and
a low frequency vibrator arranged to induce a displacement of said single ultrasound transducer or plurality of ultrasound transducers towards a tissue to be characterized, and
an electronic unit comprising an electronic circuit, configured to control the single ultrasound transducer or plurality of ultrasound transducers to emit a sequence of ultrasound pulses in said tissue to be characterized, and configured to acquire echo signals received by the single ultrasound transducer or plurality of ultrasound transducers in response to the sequence of tracking ultrasound pulses emitted, in order to track how elastic waves travel in said tissue, said elastic waves being induced in the tissue by the displacement of the single ultrasound transducer or the plurality of ultrasound transducers,
the electronic unit being configured to generate ultrasound pulses at a variable pulse repetition frequency during the displacement of said single ultrasound transducer or plurality of ultrasound transducers to track how said elastic waves travel in said tissue such that a temporal duration between two successive ultrasound pulses varies in said sequence of ultrasound pulses.