Patent ID: 9168021
Filing Date: 2015-10-27
Classification: A61B,G01N,G01S

Abstract:
1. A Method for measuring heart muscle contractility of a patient, comprising at least the following steps: a) an excitation step during which an elastic shear wave is generated in the patient's heart muscle by causing at least one focused ultrasound wave to be emitted into the patient's body by an array of transducers; b) an observation step during which the propagation of the shear wave is observed in an observation field in the patient's heart muscle, this observation step comprising the following substeps: c) a processing step including a substep in which at least one movement parameter is determined in the observation field, said movement parameter characterizing movements of said reflecting particles; and d) a heart contractility estimating step in which, based on variation in the movement parameter over time, values of said shear wave propagation parameter are determined repeatedly at several different instants, several times per second over a measuring period covering at least one cardiac cycle and at least an end-systolic elasticity parameter is determined at at least one point of the observation field on the basis of said values of said shear wave propagation parameter, said shear wave propagation parameter being representative of the elasticity of the heart muscle, a maximum of said values of said shear wave propagation parameter is determined and said end-systolic elasticity parameter is determined as a function of said maximum, said end-systolic elasticity parameter corresponding to said heart contractility.