WIRED AND WIRELESS REMOTELY CONTROLLED ULTRASONIC TRANSDUCER AND IMAGING APPARATUS

Abstract

A remotely manipulatable ultrasound transducer element or transducer array permits an operator of an ultrasound system to be remotely located from a patient and yet remotely control the location of the element or array on a patient's body such as on the skin surface or within a body cavity. The transducer element or transducer array associated with motors and control circuits comprises an assembly within a housing for fixation to or within a human body and is intended to be placed one time and then remotely manipulated in directions of rotation, twist, and linearly in first and second perpendicular directions within a plane parallel to the surface of the human body and remotely controlled to provide therapeutic or diagnostic treatment or imaging of an internal body region of interest under study. In one embodiment, the housing comprises at least one motor and one of a transducer element and a transducer array which is mounted to a rotor of the motor via an optional gear assembly for rotation, for example, in a range of 180 degrees so that multiple planes of imaging can be obtained, for example, of a heart or other body organ from the skin surface. The remotely manipulatable ultrasound transducer or transducer array assembly may comprise a wireless transceiver having a unique identifier for communication with one or more remote workstations, each having a unique identifier. Motors may provide linear, longitudinal axis movement, perpendicular movement to a longitudinal axis, rotation, twist and focus. Control information may comprise pulsing frequency, delay between elements, beamforming, time of day, direction, frequency, amplitude and the like to control one or more transducer elements or transducer arrays for therapeutic, diagnostic or imaging purposes.