公开(公告)号：EP0723421A1

公开(公告)日：1996-07-31

申请号：EP94900592.0

申请日：1993-11-08

Applicant: ORTHOLOGIC CORP.

Inventor： KAUFMAN, Jonathan J. ,  CHIABRERA, Alessandro

IPC: A61M11 ,  A61B8 ,  A61B17 ,  A61H23 ,  A61M15 ,  A61N7 ,  G01N29 ,  A61J7 ,  A61M16

CPC classification number: A61M15/00 ,  A61B8/0875 ,  A61J7/0481 ,  A61M15/008 ,  A61M15/009 ,  A61M2016/0039 ,  A61M2016/0042 ,  A61M2205/35 ,  A61M2205/3561 ,  A61M2205/52 ,  A61N7/00 ,  G01N29/30 ,  G01N29/348 ,  G01N29/449 ,  G01N2291/02483 ,  Y10S128/925

Abstract: Non-invasive therapeutic treatment and/or quantitative evaluation of musculoskeletal tissue are performed in vivo by subjecting musculoskeletal tissue (11) to an ultrasonic acoustic signal pulse excitation, involving a composite sine wave signal consisting of plural discrete frequencies that are spaced in the ultrasonic region to approximately 2 MHZ, and repeated substantially in the range of 1 Hz to 1000 Hz. In a quantitative evaluation, the signal is supplied to one of two transducers (12, 13) on opposite sides of the tissue, and the signal received by the other transducer is processed (14): (a) to obtain an averaged per-pulse signal, and (b) to produce a Fourier transform of the averaged per-pulse tissue transmittal signal. In a separate operation, the same transducers are subjected to the same excitation, reception and processing, using a medium of known acoustic properties and path length to produce a reference Fourier transform. In a therapeutic treatment, the transducer (12) excited by the composite sine wave signal, is applied for a time period and magnitude.