US 12,440,185 B2
Method for determining a mechanical property of a layered soft material
Stefan Catheline, Lyons (FR); Jean-Yves Chapelon, Lyons (FR); and Cyril Lafon, Lyons (FR)
Assigned to INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTE ET DE LA RECHERCHE MEDICALE (INSERM), Paris (FR); UNIVERSITÉ CLAUDE BERNARD LYON 1, Villeurbanne (FR); and CENTRE LEON-BERARD, Lyons (FR)
Appl. No. 15/778,703
Filed by INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTE ET DE LA RECHERCHE MEDICALE (INSERM), Paris (FR); UNIVERSITÉ CLAUDE BERNARD LYON 1, Villeurbanne (FR); and CENTRE LÉON-BÉRARD, Lyons (FR)
PCT Filed Nov. 25, 2016, PCT No. PCT/EP2016/078761
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 24, 2018,
PCT Pub. No. WO2017/089511, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 1, 2017.
Claims priority of application No. 15306878 (EP), filed on Nov. 26, 2015.
Prior Publication US 2018/0348168 A1, Dec. 6, 2018
Int. Cl. A61B 8/00 (2006.01); A61B 8/08 (2006.01); A61B 8/10 (2006.01); A61F 9/007 (2006.01); A61N 7/00 (2006.01); A61N 7/02 (2006.01); G01N 29/04 (2006.01); G01S 7/52 (2006.01); G01S 15/89 (2006.01)
CPC A61B 8/485 (2013.01) [A61B 8/10 (2013.01); A61B 8/4477 (2013.01); A61N 7/02 (2013.01); G01N 29/041 (2013.01); G01S 7/52042 (2013.01); G01S 15/8927 (2013.01); A61B 8/0858 (2013.01); A61B 8/4494 (2013.01); A61B 8/54 (2013.01); A61F 9/00781 (2013.01); A61N 2007/0052 (2013.01); G01S 7/52022 (2013.01); G01S 15/8922 (2013.01)] 13 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus configured for determining a mechanical property of a layered soft material and configured for creating thermal lesions in the layered soft material, wherein said layered soft material is an eye, comprising:
a first ultrasonic transducer, configured to generate an ultrasound wave towards a first point of the layered soft material, in order to generate in turn a Lamb wave propagating into a layer of said layered soft material,
at least one second ultrasonic transducer, the at least one second ultrasonic transducer being configured to measure a physical parameter of the generated Lamb wave at a predetermined single second point of the layered soft material, the physical parameter being representative of the amplitude of the Lamb wave at the predetermined single second point of the layered soft material,
the at least one second ultrasonic transducer being distinct from the first ultrasonic transducer,
the first and the at least one second ultrasonic transducer being located opposite to each other with respect to a central axis of a transducer unit,
said predetermined single second point belonging to said layer, said at least one second ultrasonic transducer being configured, to that end, to generate multiple excitation ultrasound waves focused towards said predetermined single second point, and to collect multiple reflected ultrasound waves reflected in response by said layered soft material,
wherein
the apparatus further comprises:
a first ultrasonic driver of the first ultrasonic transducer, configured to deliver a first excitation signal to said first ultrasonic transducer in order to generate said ultrasound wave, the first excitation signal having a duration smaller than or equal to 50 ms,
a second ultrasonic driver of the at least one second ultrasonic transducer, configured to deliver a second excitation signal to the at least one second ultrasonic transducer to generate the multiple excitation ultrasound waves, the second excitation signal having a duration smaller than or equal to 0.5 ms, and configured to collect a measurement signal representative of the physical parameter of the Lamb wave generated by the at least one second ultrasonic transducer upon collecting the multiple reflected ultrasound waves,
a control unit, programmed to automatically calculate a mechanical property of said layered soft material based upon the collected measurement signal,
the first and second ultrasonic transducers each comprise an oscillator having a quality factor equal to or superior to 100.