45 patents
Utility
Focused ultrasound system with optimized monitoring of cavitation
16 Jan 24
Various approaches for generating an ultrasound focus at a target region and receiving signals therefrom using an ultrasound transducer having multiple transducer elements include acquiring multiple images of the target region and one or more path zones located on beam paths between the transducer elements and the target region; determining one or more tissue characteristics associated with the target region based on the acquired images; determining multiple profile parameters associated with each of the transducer elements based at least in part on the determined tissue characteristic; based at least in part on the profile parameters, operating at least first ones of the transducer elements to collectively transmit an ultrasound beam to the target region so as to create a focus thereon with desired properties; and based at least in part on the profile parameters, operating at least second ones of the transducer elements to receive acoustic signals from the target region and, in response thereto, adjusting operation of the at least first ones of the transducer elements to thereby improve the focus at the target region.
Kobi Vortman, Rafi De Picciotto
Filed: 4 Jun 19
Utility
Frequency optimization in ultrasound treatment
16 Jan 24
A system and method for selecting a patient-specific frequency for ultrasound therapy of a target within the patient are provided.
Kobi Vortman, Shuki Vitek, Eyal Zadicario
Filed: 24 Aug 18
Utility
Simulation-based drug treatment planning
2 Jan 24
Various approaches for computationally generating a protocol for treatment of one or more target BBB regions within a tissue region of interest using a source of focused ultrasound include specifying (i) settings of sonication parameters for applying one or more sequence of sonications to the target BBB region using the source of focused ultrasound and (ii) a characteristic of microbubbles selected to be administered into the target BBB region; electronically simulating treatment in accordance with the protocol at least in part by computationally executing the sequence(s) of sonications and computationally administering the microbubbles having the characteristic; and computationally predicting a tissue disruption effect of the target BBB region resulting from the treatment.
Yoav Levy, Rafi De Picciotto, Javier Grinfeld, Eyal Zadicario
Filed: 29 Jun 18
Utility
Multiparametric Optimization for Ultrasound Procedures
14 Dec 23
Focused-ultrasound systems and methods involve simultaneously determining multiple ultrasound parameters (e.g., applied acoustic power, frequency, phases, position, activation pattern, beam shape, wave shape, etc.) associated with the transducer array for generating optimal treatment effects both at the target region (e.g., causing a sufficient temperature increase for tissue necrosis to occur) and non-target region (e.g., having a clinically insignificant temperature increase to avoid damage to the non-target tissue).
Shuki Vitek, Kobi Vortman
Filed: 17 Nov 21
Utility
Adaptive, closed-loop ultrasound therapy
7 Nov 23
Various approaches to focusing an ultrasound transducer includes causing the ultrasound transducer to transmit ultrasound waves to the target region; causing the detection system to indirectly measure the focusing properties; and based at least in part on the indirectly measured focusing properties, adjusting a parameter value associated with at least one of the transducer elements so as to achieve a target treatment power at the target region.
Kobi Vortman, Yoav Levy, Oleg Prus, Shuki Vitek
Filed: 5 Dec 18
Utility
Systems and methods for regulating microbubbles in ultrasound procedures
22 Aug 23
Various approaches for regulating microbubbles in a treatment procedure for a target include generating a tissue-sensitivity map including multiple regions, at least one of the regions being outside the target region, the tissue-sensitivity map assigning, to each of the regions, a sensitivity level indicative of tissue sensitivity to the interaction between the microbubbles and an acoustic beam; select one or more interaction regions based at least in part on the tissue-sensitivity map; and activating the ultrasound transducer so as to generate the acoustic beam for interacting with the microbubbles in the selection interaction region(s) in the tissue-sensitivity map, thereby indirectly changing a characteristic of the microbubbles at the target region.
Yoav Levy
Filed: 9 Apr 19
Utility
Systems and Methods for Selective, Targeted Tissue Disruption
29 Jun 23
Systems and methods for temporarily altering a tissue characteristic at a target region, such as the blood-brain barrier, include causing an ultrasound transducer to transmit acoustic energy to the target region at a transmission frequency; acquiring a cumulative harmonic response from at least the target region; and operating the transducer based at least in part on the acquired cumulative harmonic response.
Yoav Levy, Eyal Zadicario, Javier Grinfeld, Rafi De Picciotto, Michael Plaksin, Avinoam Bar-Zion
Filed: 1 Mar 23
Utility
Optimization of transducer configurations in ultrasound procedures
27 Jun 23
Various approaches to delivering ultrasound energy to a target region include an ultrasound transducer having multiple transducer elements for generating a focal zone of acoustic energy at the target region, wherein one or more transducer elements are partitioned into multiple contiguous sub-regions having a common directionality; one or more driver circuits connected to the transducer element(s); a switch matrix having multiple switches for switchably connecting the sub-regions to the driver circuit(s), each of the sub-regions being associated with one of the switches; and a controller configured to (i) determine an optimal sonication frequency for maximizing a peak acoustic intensity in the focal zone; and (ii) based at least in part on the determined optimal sonication frequency, activate one or more switches in the switch matrix for causing the corresponding sub-region(s) to transmit ultrasound pulses to the target region.
Kobi Vortman, Yoav Levy, Shahar Rinott
Filed: 27 Dec 18
Utility
Differential Prediction of Aberration Corrections for Ultrasound Therapy
30 Mar 23
Various approaches for delivering ultrasound energy to a target region during a therapeutic or diagnostic procedure includes implementing an adjustment mechanism having a machine-learning model that has been trained, based on input vectors corresponding to a difference and/or a ratio of parameter values between multiple transducer elements, to generate, for each of the transducer elements, one or more parameter value to compensate for expected beam aberration resulting for an intervening tissue; and activating the transducer elements in accordance with the corresponding parameter values so as to generate an optimized focal zone at the target region during the therapeutic or diagnostic procedure.
Talia AMAR, Yoav LEVY
Filed: 4 Mar 21
Utility
Systems and Methods for Reducing Interference Between Mri Apparatus and Ultrasound Systems
26 Jan 23
Approaches for performing magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of an anatomic region in conjunction with an ultrasound operation on the anatomic region include transmitting multiple ultrasound waves or pulses having a fundamental frequency and multiple harmonics to the anatomic region; transmitting an MR pulse sequence to the anatomic region and receiving, therefrom, MR signals within a band of frequencies; and causing the band of frequencies to be located between two adjacent frequencies of the harmonics.
Adi GREENBERG
Filed: 11 Dec 20
Utility
Adaptive Single-bubble-based Autofocusing and Power Adjustment In Ultrasound Procedures
5 Jan 23
Approaches for focusing an ultrasound transducer having multiple transducer elements include generating the first sonication to one or more target regions and measuring the first set of reflection signals resulting from the first sonication; based on the first set of reflection signals, determining whether a target number or a target occurrence rate of focusing events has been reached; if not, generating the second sonication at an adjusted acoustic power to the target region(s) and measuring the second set of reflection signals resulting from the second sonication; and based at least in part on the second set of reflection signals, adjusting a parameter value associated with one or more transducer elements so as to improve an ultrasound focus at the target region(s).
Yoav LEVY, Oleg PRUS, Talia AMAR
Filed: 18 Dec 20
Utility
Systems and Methods for Providing Tissue Information In an Anatomic Target Region Using Acoustic Reflectors
5 Jan 23
Various approaches for computationally characterizing tissue in an anatomic target region include generating multiple sonications to transient acoustic reflectors at or proximate to the target region; measuring reflection signals of the sonications off the transient acoustic reflectors; based on the measurements, identifying the reflection signals originating from single transient acoustic reflectors; and based at least in part on the identified reflection signals, generating a digital map including a tissue characteristic.
Oleg PRUS, Shahar RINOTT, Yoav LEVY, Israel SCHUSTER
Filed: 18 Dec 20
Utility
Systems and methods for registering images obtained using various imaging modalities and verifying image registration
13 Dec 22
Embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods to detect a moving anatomic feature during a treatment sequence based on a computed and/or a measured shortest distance between the anatomic feature and at least a portion of an imaging system.
Omer Brokman, Oleg Prus, Eyal Zadicario
Filed: 25 Nov 20
Utility
Aberration Corrections for Dynamically Changing Media During Ultrasound Therapy
15 Sep 22
Various approaches to delivering ultrasound energy to a target region include, prior to delivery of the ultrasound energy, populating a data structure relating multiple real-time parameter values to corresponding correction values for one or more ultrasound parameter values associated with one or more transducer elements for generating a focal zone of acoustic energy in at least the first portion of the target region; and during the treatment, (i) predicting or causing measurement of at least one of the real-time parameter values in the second portion of the target region or the non-target region; (ii) based at least in part on the predicted or measured real-time parameter value(s) and contents of the data structure, determine the correction value(s) for the ultrasound parameter value(s); and (iii) activate the transducer element(s) based at least in part on the determined correction value(s) for the ultrasound parameter value(s) so as to generate the focal zone in the second portion of the target region.
Kobi VORTMAN, Yoav LEVY
Filed: 24 Jul 20
Utility
Accelerated Magnetic Resonance Thermometry
23 Jun 22
Systems and methods provide accelerated MR thermometry utilizing prior knowledge about the images to be reconstructed from incomplete k-space data, thereby facilitating accurate reconstruction.
Yuval ZUR, Boaz SHAPIRA, Yoav LEVY
Filed: 21 Apr 20
Utility
Ultrasound frequency and microbubble size optimization in microbubble-enhanced ultrasound treatment
14 Jun 22
Various approaches for enhancing treatment of target tissue using a source of focused ultrasound while limiting damage to non-target tissue include selecting a frequency of ultrasound waves transmitted from the source of focused ultrasound for generating a focus in the target tissue; providing microbubbles having the first size distribution such that at least 50% of the microbubbles have a radius smaller than a critical radius corresponding to a resonance frequency matching the selected frequency of ultrasound waves; and applying the ultrasound waves at the selected frequency to treat the target tissue.
Rafi De Picciotto, Javier Grinfeld, Yoav Levy
Filed: 29 Jun 18
Utility
Precedent-based ultrasound focusing
5 Apr 22
Various approaches for operating an ultrasound transducer having multiple transducer elements include acquiring one or more measurements of anatomical regions through which ultrasound waves emitted from the transducer elements travel; for each of the anatomical regions, determining values of characteristics based at least in part on the measurement(s); computationally predicting aberrations of the ultrasound waves traveling through the anatomical regions by using the first values as input to a predictor that has been computationally trained to predict ultrasound aberrations based on values of the characteristics; and driving the transducer elements to compensate for the predicted aberrations.
Yoav Levy, Eyal Zadicario, Talia Amar
Filed: 14 Jul 17
Utility
Ultrasound focusing in dynamically changing media
5 Apr 22
Various approaches to generating and maintaining an ultrasound focus at a target region include configuring a controller to cause transmission of treatment ultrasound pulses from a transducer having multiple transducer elements; cause the transducer to transmit focusing ultrasound pulses to the target region and generate an acoustic reflector therein; measure reflections of the focusing ultrasound pulses from the acoustic reflector; based at least in part on the measured reflections, adjust a parameter value associated with one or more transducer elements so as to maintain and/or improve the ultrasound focus at the target region.
Yoav Levy, Eyal Zadicario, Shuki Vitek, Javier Grinfeld, Ohad Silbiger
Filed: 11 Dec 17
Utility
Systems and methods for ensuring coherence between multiple ultrasound transducer arrays
15 Mar 22
A system for maintaining coherence of ultrasound waves emitted by multiple transducer arrays includes multiple retention arms, each for receiving one of the transducer arrays; a connecting frame for receiving and mechanically retaining the arms in fixed angular relation to each other; and a processor configured to determine relative locations of the transducer arrays with respect to one another and the connecting frame; determine a location of the connecting frame relative to an anatomic region of interest; determine a spatial arrangement of the transducer elements in each transducer array with respect to the anatomic region of interest; and adjust a transmission configuration of the transducer elements in the transducer arrays to achieve a desired focusing property with respect to the anatomic region of interest while maintaining coherence therebetween.
Yoav Levy
Filed: 20 Jun 17
Utility
Ultrasound focusing using a cross-point switch matrix
15 Mar 22
A system for delivering ultrasound energy to an internal anatomical target includes an ultrasound transducer having multiple transducer elements collectively operable as a phased array; multiple driver circuits, each being connected to at least one of the transducer elements; multiple phase circuits; a switch matrix selectably coupling the driver circuits to the phase circuits; and a controller configured for (i) receiving as input a target average intensity level and/or an energy level energy to be applied to the target and/or a temperature level in target, (ii) identifying multiple sets of the transducer elements, each of the sets corresponding to multiple transducer elements for shaping and/or focusing, as a phased array, ultrasound energy at the target across tissue intervening between the target and the ultrasound transducer, and (iii) sequentially operating the transducer-element sets to apply and maintain the target average energy level at the target.
Kobi Vortman, Shuki Vitek, Yoav Levy
Filed: 20 Jun 17