Patent ID: 6786868
Filing Date: 2004-09-07
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
A high-resolution ultrasonic tomograph according to the transmission, scattering and impulse echo method for the tissue examination of body extremities, particularly a female breast, said tomograph comprising: an open container including walls with ultrasonic transducers mounted on the walls so as to be directed toward the interior of the container which is filled with a coupling medium, by which the body part inserted into the container is wetted for the coupling and transmission of the ultrasonic wave signals between the ultrasonic transducers and the body part to be examined, and a computer-based control and evaluation unit with an operating memory connected in a circuit arrangement with the ultrasonic transducers in the container in such a way that:a) any number of the ultrasonic transducers can be addressed for operation as transmitters and, respectively, as receivers by way of an electronic switch, b) the signals received by the addressed receivers are amplified as electrical signals, are filtered and digitized and stored as data in the operating memory, c) from the data in the operating memory, the sound travel times and from the sound travel times and the geometric conditions the individual travel speeds are determined and, by a division of the container volume in numerous areas and a suitable correlation between different data sets the sound velocities in the various areas are calculated, d) with the sound speeds in the various areas and the amplitude and the phases of the received signals, all the reflection points in the container are calculated, and e) the signals in the form of the data for the reflection points from all the measurements are added up for each point in the container, and for each point a color shade is assigned to each point corresponding to the level of the summed up value, and depending on the desired resolution this value is assigned to a pixel in the three-dimensional reconstruction, f) said ultrasonic signals emitted by the transmitting transducers forming an ultrasound impulse which is received by all receiving transducers in parallel and as an electrical signal amplified, filtered and digitized, is stored as a data set in the operating memory.