公开(公告)号：US20200205670A1

公开(公告)日：2020-07-02

申请号：US16728844

申请日：2019-12-27

Applicant: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Inventor： Tyler S. Ralston ,  Murad Omar ,  Lawrence C. West ,  Jonathan M. Rothberg

IPC: A61B5/00

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses are provided for photoacoustic imaging. One such apparatus may include an ultrasound-on-a-chip device attached to a housing, an optical emitter attached to the housing, and a controller enclosed at least partially in the housing. The ultrasound-on-a-chip device may include a plurality of ultrasonic transducers. The optical emitter may include an array of diodes arranged at a periphery of the plurality of ultrasonic transducers. The controller may be configured to control the optical emitter to emit pulses of light, to control the plurality of ultrasonic transducers to detect ultrasonic waves emitted from a target to be imaged in response to exposure to the pulses of light, and to convert the ultrasonic waves to digital signals. For example, the optical emitter may be controlled to emit chirped optical pulses. The digital signals may be processed by the controller to produce image-formation data.

公开(公告)号：US20190000422A1

公开(公告)日：2019-01-03

申请号：US16022841

申请日：2018-06-29

Applicant: Butterfly Network, Inc.

Inventor： Lawrence C. West ,  Kailiang Chen ,  Tyler S. Ralston ,  Sarp Satir ,  Jaime Scott Zahorian

IPC: A61B8/08 ,  G01S15/89 ,  G01S7/52

Abstract: Ultrasound devices configured to perform high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) are described. An ultrasound device may include HIFU units configured to emit high acoustic intensities and elasticity detectors configured to determine characteristics of the target area of a human body based on the elasticity of the target area. The elasticity detectors may determine, e.g., whether the target area is healthy, and if not, the type cell in need of treatment (e.g., the type of cancer cell present in the target area). In one example, the elasticity detectors may be configured to determine the stiffness of the target area, which may provide an indication as to the type of cell present in the area, by estimating the velocity of a shear wave propagating away from the target area. The shear wave may arise in response to the application of an ultrasound wave to the target area.