Patent ID: 8613714

Claim:
An apparatus for autonomous operation in a non-invasive, transcranial ultrasound (US) mode, said apparatus comprising an electronic circuit with microcontroller, clock, memory, instruction set, a portable power and voltage supply, and on/off control, wherein said circuit is configured for actuating a headset on which are disposed a plurality of ultrasonic transducer arrays, each array having a plurality of ultrasonic transducers externally disposed on a skull and acoustically coupled thereto; said headset, when positioned on a subject's head for transcranial sonothrombolysis, defining a headset plane that is inclined with respect to a horizontal reference plane by 10 to 15 degrees and is parallel to a plane defined by the subject's Circle of Willis, further characterized in that said headset is configured with a nosepiece having a fixed end affixed to the headset at the front and a second end and protruding transversely to the headset plane and along the subject's forehead and with contralateral right and left earpieces corresponding to opposite sides of the subject's head and slidably and removably mounted on an internal surface of said headset, and left (Lt) and right (Rt) temporal transducer arrays respectively juxtaposed to said earpieces; and a posterior occipital transducer array, from the set of transducer arrays, is disposed at a back portion of the headset in proximity to the occipital acoustic window under the occipital prominence when said headset is circumcranially tightened around said skull such as to direct corresponding US beams at the basiliar and vertebral artery and a junction of the internal carotids of the Circle of Willis, said nosepiece and earpieces forming a triad of registration surfaces of an Isosceles triangle which defines a foundational reference plane containing a sphenoid shelf and the Circle of Willis of said skull, said triangle having a base, an apex, and a midline, said triangle for stereotactically positioning said headset and for stereotactically aligning said transducer arrays to additionally insonate a vasculature of said Circle of Willis and the cerebral arteries projecting therefrom, wherein said nosepiece and contralateral earpieces are configured such that, when the headset is positioned on the subject's head for transcranial sonothrombolysis, said contralateral earpieces self-align the respective left and right temporal transducer arrays with the otobasion superior and the sphenoid shelf without (i) a need for measuring or locating of said otobasion superior and sphenoid shelf prior to positioning of the headset on the subject's head and (ii) a need for diagnostic imaging guidance.