Patent ID: 7736314

Claim:
A method for detecting a stenosis using ultrasound data, comprising the steps of: (a) generating ultrasound data reflected from an internal site using an ultrasound machine including an ultrasound transducer; (b) processing the ultrasound data using a vibration processor to identify tissue vibrations at the internal site, producing a tissue vibration signal from which any contribution to the tissue vibration from a source other than the stenosis at the internal site has been reduced, said tissue vibration signal providing an indication of the stenosis, wherein the step of producing the tissue vibration signal is implemented using the following steps: (i) estimating a mean clutter velocity from an ensemble of the ultrasound data, using autocorrelation; (ii) down mixing the ultrasound data with the mean clutter velocity, producing a down mixed signal; (iii) computing a phase of the down mixed signal and a mean phase of the down mixed signal; (iv) subtracting the mean phase from the phase of the down mixed signal, producing a residual phase; (v) decomposing the residual phase into its dominant components; and (vi) applying energy and frequency thresholds to the dominant components, to suppress any contribution to the tissue vibration due to noise and blood flow, yielding an estimate of vibration amplitude and vibration frequency of tissue; and (c) outputting an indication of the tissue vibration signal to a user in a format perceptible to the user, wherein the indication conveys to the user that a stenosis is present at the internal site.