| CPC A61B 8/12 (2013.01) [A61B 8/4483 (2013.01); A61B 8/4444 (2013.01)] | 12 Claims |
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1. A portable ultrasonic endocavitary imaging system for developing an image of a portion of a body cavity, configured for remote self-use, the system comprising:
an elongate probe having a longitudinal axis, a distal end configured for insertion into the body cavity, a proximal end opposite to the distal end;
a shaft rotatably mounted in the probe, in a manner supporting rotation about the longitudinal axis, and having a proximal end protruding from the proximal end of the probe and a distal end opposite to the proximal end;
a handle pivotally attached to the proximal end of the shaft and configured to cause manual hand-operated rotation of the shaft within the probe, the shaft rotating with manual hand-operated rotation of the handle; and
an image capture assembly, including:
a piezo crystal array configured to rotate with the shaft about the longitudinal axis, the array coupled to the distal end of the shaft and having an axis aligned with the longitudinal axis, the array configured to cause capture of an ultrasound image of the interior of the body cavity lying in a plane through which the longitudinal axis passes, so that, when the shaft is rotated within the probe by means of the handle, the plane is correspondingly rotated about the longitudinal axis, causing generation of swept image data in the interior of the body cavity; and
a radio frequency transceiver disposed in the probe and coupled to the piezo crystal array, the transceiver configured for transmitting the image data from the piezo crystal array to a computing device of a user.
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