Handheld imaging devices and related methods

Abstract

A monitoring device can be configured to facilitate intra-tissue inspection of a probe at a target region, the monitoring device comprising a housing and a transducer coupled to and at least partially located within the housing. The transducer comprises a longitudinal transducer array aligned to scan a longitudinal cross-section of the target region and a transverse transducer array aligned to scan a transverse cross-section of the target region. The longitudinal transducer array is configured to detect a probe point depth of a probe point of the probe along the longitudinal cross-section. The longitudinal transducer array is also configured to send to a processor longitudinal data about the scan of the longitudinal cross-section to track movement of the probe point based upon at least the longitudinal data and determine the probe point depth based upon at least the longitudinal data. The transverse transducer array is configured to send to the processor transverse data about the scan of the transverse cross-section to determine a transverse cross-section view of the transverse cross-section and determine, concurrently with the transverse cross-section view, a location of a probe point highlight of the probe point of the probe at a longitudinal coordinate of the transverse cross-section view, the longitudinal coordinate corresponding to the probe point depth based upon at least the longitudinal data. Other examples, embodiments, and related methods are described herein.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for facilitating intra-tissue inspection of a probe at a target region, the apparatus comprising:
 a processor configured to,
 receive, from a longitudinal transducer array, data comprising a longitudinal scan of a longitudinal cross-section of the target region, 
 receive, from a transverse transducer array, data comprising a transverse scan of a transverse cross-section of the target region, 
 track movement of a probe point of the probe based on the longitudinal scan, 
 determine a probe point depth of the probe point based on the longitudinal scan, 
 generate a transverse cross-section view of the target region based on the transverse scan, the transverse cross-section view having depth coordinates and transverse coordinates, the probe point depth having a corresponding depth coordinate in the transverse cross-section view, and 
 display the transverse cross-section view with a probe point highlight at the depth coordinate of the transverse cross-section view corresponding to the probe point depth of the probe point. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the transverse transducer array is arranged to provide the transverse cross-section view of the target region transverse to a direction of travel of the probe. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the longitudinal transducer array is arranged such that an axis of the longitudinal array is aligned with a direction of travel of the probe. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to display the probe point highlight in the transverse cross-section view when the probe point is located within a range of the transverse scan. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to display the probe point highlight in the transverse cross-section view when the probe point is located outside a range of the transverse scan. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to control operation of the longitudinal transducer array and the transverse transducer array. 
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to simultaneously operate the longitudinal transducer array at a first frequency and the transverse transducer array at a second frequency substantially non-interfering with the first frequency. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the processor is configured to operate the longitudinal transducer array in response to a first user input and operate the transverse transducer array in response to a second user input subsequent to the first user input. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to receive data from the transverse transducer array and data from the longitudinal transducer array with high frequency oscillation between the transverse transducer array and the longitudinal transducer array. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to present on a display the transverse cross-section view of the target region concurrently with the probe point highlight at the depth coordinate of the transverse cross-section view. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the probe point highlight comprises a graphic of a dot, oval, triangle, or square. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine a probe width location based on at least one of the longitudinal scan and the transverse scan, the probe width location having a corresponding transverse coordinate in the transverse cross-section view, and display the probe point highlight at the transverse coordinate of the transverse cross-section view corresponding to the probe width location. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a transducer in communication with the processor, wherein the transducer comprises a plurality of transducer elements, and wherein a first portion of the plurality of transducer elements comprises the longitudinal transducer array, and wherein a second portion of the plurality of transducer elements comprises the transverse transducer array. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the first portion or the second portion of the plurality of transducer elements is aligned along an axis. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein the first portion of the plurality of transducer elements and the second portion of the plurality of transducer elements are non-overlapping or at least partially overlapping. 
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 13 , wherein a portion of the plurality of transducer elements is shared between the longitudinal transducer array and the transverse transducer array. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising a first transducer and a second transducer in communication with the processor, wherein the first transducer comprises the longitudinal transducer array, and the second transducer comprises the transverse transducer array. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the longitudinal transducer array is aligned along a first axis and the transverse transducer array is aligned along a second axis, and wherein the longitudinal and transverse transducer arrays are arranged such that the first axis and the second axis are transverse to each other. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the longitudinal and transverse transducer arrays are arranged such that the first axis and the second axis are perpendicular. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising the probe, the probe comprising a needle having an interior surface, an exterior surface, a needle tip comprising a bevel, and one or more indentations configured to enhance ultrasonic beam reflections off the needle tip, wherein a first indentation of the one or more indentations is located at the interior surface adjacent to the bevel of the needle tip.