US-20260123909-A1 - Techniques For Measuring Skin Flap Thickness Using Ultrasound

US20260123909A1US 20260123909 A1US20260123909 A1US 20260123909A1US-20260123909-A1

Abstract

A system includes an ultrasound device configured to generate sound waves for use in generating data indicating a measurement of a thickness of a skin flap of a recipient. A method includes determining a location of a measurement of a thickness of a skin flap of the recipient based on a current or expected location of an implantable device underneath the skin flap, and generating the measurement of the thickness of the skin flap using the ultrasound device. A computer-readable storage medium includes instructions stored thereon that cause one or more processors to generate the measurement of the thickness of the skin flap of the recipient based on sonic waves applied to the skin flap, and to generate an indication of whether one or more configurations of an external device are able to be retained on the skin flap based on the measurement.

Inventors

Nathan Isaacson
Sabina Dabkowski-Chandler
Christiane D'hondt

Assignees

COCHLEAR LIMITED

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20231010

Claims (20)

1 . A system comprising: an ultrasound device configured to generate sound waves for use in generating data indicating a measurement of a thickness of a skin flap of a recipient.
2 . The system of claim 1 further comprising: one or more processor circuits configured to generate a recommendation based on the measurement of the thickness of the skin flap regarding an external device to be placed on the recipient for coupling to an implantable device under the skin flap.
3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processor circuits are further configured to generate the recommendation based on the external device having a sufficient magnetic field strength to be retained on the recipient by the implantable device.
4 . (canceled)
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasound device is further configured to generate the sound waves for use in generating data indicating multiple measurements of the thickness of the skin flap, and wherein the system determines changes in the measurements over time.
6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasound device is further configured to generate the sound waves for use in generating the data indicating the measurement of the thickness of the skin flap of the recipient over a potential location of an implantable component of an implant system.
7 . The system of claim 1 further comprising: a tool that determines a location on the recipient to locate the ultrasound device during the measurement of the thickness of the skin flap, wherein the tool is configured to align the ultrasound device with an implantable device implanted under the skin flap, and wherein the tool is configured to determine the location on the recipient to locate the ultrasound device based on an expected location of an external device of an implant system during normal use of the implant system.
8 . (canceled)
9 . (canceled)
10 . (canceled)
11 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the ultrasound device is configured to generate the sound waves for use in generating the data indicating the measurement of the thickness of the skin flap of the recipient over an implantable component of an implant system implanted in the recipient.
12 . The system of claim 1 further comprising: a sensor configured to determine an orientation of the ultrasound device or a pressure with which the ultrasound device applies to the recipient.
13 . (canceled)
14 . (canceled)
15 . (canceled)
16 . The system of claim 1 further comprising: one or more magnets configured to be aligned with an implantable device underneath the skin flap, wherein the one or more magnets are incorporated into at least one of the ultrasound device, an external device of an implant system that comprises the implantable device, or a tool separate from the ultrasound device.
17 . (canceled)
18 . A method comprising: determining a location of a measurement of a thickness of a skin flap of a recipient based on a current or expected location of an implantable device underneath the skin flap; and generating the measurement of the thickness of the skin flap using an ultrasound device.
19 . The method of claim 18 further comprising: determining suitability of one or more configurations of an external component of an implant system for the recipient at the current or expected location of the implantable device using the measurement of the thickness of the skin flap, wherein the implant system further comprises the implantable device.
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein determining the suitability of the one or more configurations of the external component for the recipient at the current or expected location of the implantable device comprises: determining suitability of one or more combinations of the external component and the implantable device for the recipient at the current or expected location of the implantable device based on pre-determined criteria that comprise a defined skin flap thickness range for which the one or more combinations are suitable.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This patent application claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application 63/416,903, filed Oct. 17, 2022, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for measuring skin flap thickness of a recipient using ultrasound. BACKGROUND Medical devices have provided a wide range of therapeutic benefits to recipients over recent decades. Medical devices can include internal or implantable components/devices, external or wearable components/devices, or combinations thereof (e.g., a device having an external component communicating with an implantable component). Medical devices, such as traditional hearing aids, partially or fully-implantable hearing prostheses (e.g., bone conduction devices, mechanical stimulators, cochlear implants, etc.), pacemakers, defibrillators, functional electrical stimulation devices, and other medical devices, have been successful in performing lifesaving and/or lifestyle enhancement functions and/or recipient monitoring for a number of years. The types of medical devices and the ranges of functions performed thereby have increased over the years. For example, many medical devices, sometimes referred to as “implantable medical devices,” now often include one or more instruments, apparatus, sensors, processors, controllers or other functional mechanical or electrical components that are permanently or temporarily implanted in a recipient. These functional devices are typically used to diagnose, prevent, monitor, treat, or manage a disease/injury or symptom thereof, or to investigate, replace or modify the anatomy or a physiological process. Many of these functional devices utilize power and/or data received from external devices that are part of, or operate in conjunction with, implantable components. BRIEF SUMMARY According to a first aspect of the present invention, a system is provided that comprises an ultrasound device configured to generate sound waves for use in generating data indicating a measurement of a thickness of a skin flap of a recipient. According to a second aspect of the present invention, a method is provided that comprises determining a location of a measurement of a thickness of a skin flap of a recipient based on a current or expected location of an implantable device underneath the skin flap, and generating the measurement of the thickness of the skin flap using an ultrasound device. According to a third aspect of the present invention, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is provided that comprises instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to generate a measurement of a thickness of a skin flap of a recipient based on sonic waves applied to the skin flap, and generate an indication of whether one or more configurations of an external device are able to be retained on the skin flap based on the measurement of the thickness of the skin flap. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1A depicts a schematic diagram of an exemplary cochlear implant system that can be configured to implement aspects of the techniques presented herein, according to some exemplary embodiments. FIG. 1B depicts a block diagram of the cochlear implant system of FIG. 1A. FIG. 2A is a diagram that illustrates a cross-sectional view of an example of an ultrasound device that can be used to generate a measurement of a thickness of a skin flap of an individual at the potential location of an implantable component in the individual. FIG. 2B is a diagram that illustrates a cross-sectional view of an example of an ultrasound device that can be used to generate a measurement of a thickness of a skin flap of an individual at the location of an implantable component in the individual. FIG. 2C is a diagram that illustrates a cross-sectional view of the ultrasound device of FIG. 2B and a tool that is used to align the ultrasound device with the implantable component. FIG. 3A is a flow chart that illustrates examples of operations that can be performed to measure skin flap thickness using ultrasound, according to another embodiment. FIG. 3B is a flow chart that illustrates examples of operations that can be performed to determine the suitability of an external component of an implant system for a recipient, according to another embodiment. FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a suitable computing system with which one or more of the disclosed embodiments can be implemented. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Merely for ease of description, the techniques presented herein are primarily described herein with reference to an illustrative medical device, namely a cochlear implant system. However, it is to be appreciated that the techniques presented herein may also be used with a variety of other medical devices that, while providing a wide range of therapeutic benefits to recipients, patients, or other users, may benef