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Ultrasound Basics Principles: Resident Physics Lectures
Ultrasound Basics Principles: Resident Physics Lectures
Ultrasound
Basics
Principles
Speaker Microphone
transmits sound pulses receives echoes
Piezoelectric Principle
Voltage generated when certain materials are
deformed by pressure
Reverse also true!
Some materials change dimensions when
voltage applied
dimensional change causes pressure change
when voltage polarity reversed, so is
dimensional change
V
US Transducer Operation
Acme
Ultra-
Sound
Co.
What does your scanner know
about echoed sound?
How loud is the echo?
?
Dot Placement on Image
?
Positioning Dot
Dot positioned along assumed line
Position on assumed line calculated based upon
speed of sound
time delay between sound transmission & echo
?
Distance of Echo from Transducer
Time delay accurately measured by scanner
distance
distance = time delay X speed of sound
13 msec
1 cm
So the scanner assumes the wrong
speed?
Sometimes
•Luckily, the speed of
sound is almost the
same for most body
parts
? ?
How does scanner know what gray
shade to assign an echo?
? ?
Gray Shade
Who am I?
Charles Lane
Attenuation Correction
scanner assumes entire Tissue Attenuation Coefficient
body has attenuation of (dB / cm / MHz)
soft tissue
actual attenuation • Fat 0.6
varies widely in body
• Brain 0.6
• Liver 0.5
• Kidney 0.9
• Muscle 1.0
• Heart 1.1
Ultrasound Display
One sound pulse produces
one image scan line
one series of gray shade dots in a
line
Multiple pulses
two dimensional image
obtained by moving direction
in which sound transmitted
How Do We Move the Beam?
Electronically
Phased Arrays
Sound Wave Definition?
Sound is a Wave
Wave is a propagating (traveling)
variation in a “wave variable”
Electric
Bill
300 KW-hr.
Light Bulbs rated in power!
Pressure Acoustic
Variable
Density Value
Position
Temperature
MORE
Make multiple measurements of an acoustic
variable an instant apart
Results would look the same but appear to move in
space
2
MORE
Track acoustic variable
at one position over
time
Sound Waves
Waves transmit energy
Waves do not transmit matter
“Crowd wave” at sports event
people’s elevation varies with time
variation in elevation moves around stadium
people do not move around stadium
Transverse Waves
Particle moves perpendicular to wave travel
Water ripple
surface height varies with time
peak height moves outward
water does not move outward
Compression (Longitudinal)
Waves
Particle motion parallel to direction of
wave travel
Motion of
Individual Coil
2
2
Wave Travel
Medium
Material through which wave moves
Medium not required for all wave types
no medium required for electromagnetic waves
radio
x-rays Talk louder!
infrared I can’t hear
ultraviolet you.
medium is required for sound
sound does not travel through vacuum
Sound Waves
Information may be encoded in wave energy
radio
TV
ultrasound
audible sound
Sound Frequency
# of complete variations (cycles) of an acoustic
variable per unit time
Units
cycles per second
1 Hz = 1 cycle per second
1 kHz = 1000 cycles per second
1 MHz = 1,000,000 cycles per second
Human hearing range
20 - 20,000 Hz
Sound Frequency
Ultrasound definition
> 20,000 Hz
not audible to humans
dog whistles are in this range
Clinical ultrasound frequency range
1 - 10 MHz
1,000,000 - 10,000,000 Hz
Period
time between a point in one cycle & the
same point in the next cycle
time of single cycle
Units
time per cycle (sometimes expressed
only as time; cycle implied)
Magnitude
of acoustic
variable
period
time
Period
1
Period = -------------------
Frequency
as frequency increases, period decreases
if frequency in Hz, period in seconds/cycle
Period
Period = 1 / Frequency
if frequency in kHz, period in msec/cycle
if frequency in MHz, period in msec/cycle
1 kHz frequency ==> 1 msec period
1 MHz frequency ==> 1 msec period
Reciprocal Units
Who am I?
Burt Mustin
Propagation Speed
Speed only a function of medium
Speed virtually constant with respect to frequency
over clinical range
Speed depends on medium’s
Density (mass per unit volume)
more dense ==> lower speed
Stiffness (or bulk modulus; opposite of elasticity or
compressibility)
more stiffness ==> higher speed
“same letter, same effect”
Wavelength
distance in space over which single cycle
occurs
OR
distance between a given point in a cycle &
corresponding point in next cycle
imagine freezing time, measuring between
corresponding points in space between
adjacent cycles
Wavelength Units
length per cycle
sometimes just length; cycle implied
usually in millimeters or fractions of a millimeter for
clinical ultrasound
Wavelength Equation
Speed = Wavelength X Frequency
[c=lXn]
(dist./time) (dist./cycle) (cycles/time)
Who am I?
John Fiedler
Pulsed Sound
For imaging ultrasound, sound is
Not continuous
Pulsed on & off
On Cycle (speak)
Transducer produces short duration sound
Off Cycle (listen)
Transducer receives echoes
Very long duration
ON OFF ON OFF
(not to scale)
Pulse Cycle
Consists of
short sound transmission
Same Frequency
Higher Pulse
Repetition Frequency
Higher Frequency
Same Pulse
Repetition Frequency
Pulse Duration
Length of time for each sound pulse
one pulse cycle =
one sound pulse
and
one period of silence
Pulse duration independent of
duration of silence
Pulse Duration
Pulse Duration
units
time per pulse (time/pulse)
equation
pulse duration = Period X # cycles per pulse
Pulse duration is
a controlled by
the sound
source, whatever
that means.
Duty Factor
Fraction of time sound generated
Determined by source
Units
none (unitless)
Equations
Pulse Duration
H.......E.......Y
HEY
Spatial Pulse Length
Spatial Pulse Length
(Wavelength=0.31 mm/cycle)
Spat. Pulse Length = # cycles per pulse X wavelength
Spatial pulse
length determines
axial resolution
Acoustic
Definition
Impedance
Acoustic Impedance = Density X Prop. Speed