A handpiece having a set of longitudinally vibrating piezoelectric elements and which may additionally have an electric motor to provide rotational or oscillatory movement to the ultrasound horn. The piezoelectric elements are surrounded by a high temperature plastic sleeve, and the sleeve is filled with high temperature potting material. The potting material seal the piezoelectric elements against moisture without affecting the performance of the piezoelectric elements.

A body (40) is provided which is inserted between an ultrasound crystal (30) and an output port (27) in a probe filled with a fluid, to centrally defocus generated ultrasound and create an output ultrasound field having limited propagation, especially for higher intensities, after passing the output port. The casing is divided into three portions (21, 22, 23), whereby a front conical portion (21) including the output port (27) and the centrally defocusing body (40) is easily replaceable. The flu...

An improved ultrasound phantom includes a container having a window covered by an ultrasound transmitting window cover that seals and protects a water based tissue mimicking material within the container. The window cover includes a multi-layer film formed of at least a layer of metal adhered to a layer of plastic. The metal layer is essentially impervious to moisture and air molecules, preventing both desiccation of the water based material within the phantom and oxidation or contamination of t...

An ultrasound endoscope having an endoscopic observation system along with an ultrasound scan system. An outlet opening of an instrument passage, which is shunted from a biopsy channel of the endoscope, is located within a view field of an endoscopic image pickup window, which largely overlaps a scan range of the ultrasound scan system. A puncture instrument having a sharp-pointed rigid needle at the instrument outlet opening, which is in the view field of the endoscopic image pickup, can be mon...

An examination of the human heart is carried out by means of ultrasound waves emitted by piezo-electric crystals. The crystals are inserted in a holder adapted to be placed on the body of a patient; they are arranged in a row and have parallel axes of radiation. The crystals are cyclically excited at a high scanning frequency, and the echo signals reflected by the heart walls and received by the crystals are displayed on the screen of a cathode ray tube to obtain a cross-sectional picture of the...

An ultrasonic transducer assembly having three layers. The front and back layers are made of piezoelectric materials, and are acoustically matched by the intermediate layer. The back layer functions as an ultrasound transmitter, and the front layer functions both as a transmission matching layer and as an ultrasound receiver. During reception, by delaying the signal which is generated by the front layer so that it is in phase with a signal which appears across the back layer and then adding them...

In an ultrasound transducer (1), a piezo-ceramic element (2) and an active materaial element (3) are joined to form a composite body in which the speed of sound is greater than in the piezo-ceramic element (2). This makes it possible to narrow the aperture angle .PHI. of the main sonic beam according to requirements.

An ultrasound probe of the present invention comprises a rod-like grip section constituting a rear section of the probe, a rod-like insertion section constituting a forward section of the probe and having a piezoelectric element array at a forward end and a slot structure formed parallel to an axis of the grip section. A centesis instrument is put on the slot. This specific arrangement allows the axis of the centesis instrument to be less displaced relative to the axis of the probe, so that the ...

An ultrasonic imaging device for imaging the middle and inner ear is here described. It includes a thin, flattened shaft, a deformable support structure, a mounting surface, and an ultrasonic imaging array. Imaging is effected by the introduction of an acoustically conductive fluid into the middle ear space. Access to the tympanum through the external auditory canal and adjacent to the probe shaft for the purpose of injecting fluid into the middle ear space both before and during the exam is per...

The invention provides an ultrasound probe for use in a Doppler ultrasound haemodynamic monitor having a host signal processor and an interconnect cable. The probe includes a memory device, preferable in the form of E .sup.2 PROM which communicates with the host processor to limit the life of the probe and to render the probe inoperable in the event an attempt is made to use the probe in conjunction with more than one patient.