Patent ID: 9694213
Date: 2017-07-04
CPC Classifications: A61B,A61N

Claim:
1. An acoustic assessment system for a catheter, the system comprising: a flexible catheter shaft; at least one acoustic transducer coupled to the flexible catheter shaft, the at least one acoustic transducer configured to emit a generated acoustic signal for reflection by an adjacent tissue, the at least one acoustic transducer configured to receive a reflected acoustic signal from the adjacent tissue responsive to the emitted acoustic signal; an output device electrically connected to the at least one acoustic transducer, the output device including a processing device configured to interpret electrical signals generated in response to the reflected acoustic signal and corresponding to one or more property of the tissue, wherein the processing device is configured to interpret an in-phase reflected acoustic signal as the flexible catheter shaft is in an endoluminal flow environment and an out-of-phase reflected acoustic signal as indicating the flexible catheter shaft is in contact with the adjacent tissue; a window positioned adjacent to the at least one acoustic transducer, the window configured to focus the generated acoustic signal; and wherein the output device is configured to generate output for assessing one or more properties of the tissue.