US 12,070,352 B2
System and method for utilizing a single ultrasound imaging device to simultaneously measure a maternal heart rate and fetal heart rates of multiple fetuses
Sivaramanivas Ramaswamy, Bangalore (IN); Vijith Venugopalan, Bangalore (IN); Kiran Kumar Bogineni, Bangalore (IN); Nagapriya Kavoori Sethumadhavan, Bangalore (IN); Steven Mitchell Falk, Baltimore, MD (US); Dianne Kessler, Brentwood, TN (US); and Tamara Grassle, Wickenburg, AZ (US)
Assigned to GE Precision Healthcare LLC, Wauwatosa, WI (US)
Filed by GE Precision Healthcare LLC, Wauwatosa, WI (US)
Filed on Jun. 9, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/836,238.
Prior Publication US 2023/0397903 A1, Dec. 14, 2023
Int. Cl. A61B 8/08 (2006.01); A61B 8/00 (2006.01); A61B 8/02 (2006.01); A61B 8/14 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 8/0866 (2013.01) [A61B 8/02 (2013.01); A61B 8/4227 (2013.01); A61B 8/4472 (2013.01); A61B 8/4477 (2013.01); A61B 8/4488 (2013.01); A61B 8/14 (2013.01); A61B 8/488 (2013.01)] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
13. A method for simultaneously monitoring fetal heart rate in a plurality of fetuses in a uterus, comprising:
providing, via a processor, signals to a single transducer to cause different subsets of transducer elements of the single transducer to sequentially capture scan data, wherein the single transducer comprises a flexible substrate and a flexible array having the transducer elements disposed on the flexible substrate, and wherein providing the signals to the single transducer comprises providing the signals to the single transducer to cause the different subsets of the transducer elements to sequentially capture sub-aperture full matrix capture (FMC) data;
receiving, at the processor, the scan data and the sub-aperture FMC data;
determining, via the processor, a respective location of each fetus of the plurality of fetuses based on the scan data, wherein determining the respective location comprises performing total focusing method reconstruction to determine the respective location of each fetus of the plurality of fetuses based on the sub-aperture FMC data;
applying, via the processor, Doppler shifts to the scan data; and
determining, via the processor, a respective fetal heart rate of each fetus of the plurality of fetuses based on the scan data with the Doppler shifts applied, wherein the respective location of each fetus of the plurality of fetuses is determined prior both to applying the Doppler shifts to the scan data and to determining the respective fetal heart rate of each fetus of the plurality fetuses based on the scan data with the Doppler shifts applied.