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Basic of Ultrasound
Basic of Ultrasound
Introduction
In this section, a brief history and general overview of ultrasound diagnosis
are described. Also the merits and demerits of medical ultrasound as well
as a comparison with other techniques like CT and MR are outlined.
History
Ultrasound has been used as a navigational and detection aid by the bat for millions of years.
It was not until the second world war, however, that man started extensive use of ultrasound
for the same purpose. With the enormous potential of military research programs, ultrasound
technology rapidly developed.
Although ultrasound had already been used in the therapy and was proposed by S.Y. Sokolov
for diagnostic use in 1937, no successful attempt to apply the ultrasound echo-sounder principle
to medical diagnosis was made until the early 1950’s.
Most of the equipment used at that time were industrial-type ultrasound devices for detecting
flows in metal, but soon ultrasonic devices generally known as “ultrasonoscopes” specifically
intended for medical diagnostics were developed. The major advantages of these devices are
the non-invasive and non-ionizing nature of the examination and their relatively low cost when
compared to X-Ray, Magnetic Resonance (MR), CT and Isotopic Scanning techniques.
Over the last decade, the diagnostic usefulness of the equipment has been vastly improved,
as better instruments were developed and more clinical experience gained, and in several
diagnostic fields, ultrasound technique has shown to be superior to other methods.
General Overview
In Medical Ultrasound, images representing human organs are formed by transmitting sound
waves into the body and receiving back and processing the resultant echoes from the tissues.
To accomplish this, medical ultrasound uses a process very similar to an ocean-going vessels
“depth sounding” equipment or oceanic survey equipment. All of these systems make use of
sound waves and their reflections.
Sea
Merits and Limitations
By comparison with CT, MR, X-Ray and other diagnostic methods, Ultrasound
Diagnosis, especially for soft tissues and moving organ like heart and blood
flow, has shown great advantages as following:
Resolution Better
Penetration Better
Due to the nature of ultrasound propagation, strong reflection of ultrasound beam from
boundaries between tissue and air or boundaries between tissue and bone prohibit
normal scanning of the lungs and the intracranial soft structure in adults as well as to
some extent the intestines.
* Properties of Propagation
- Velocity and Frequency
- Reflection
- Refraction
- Diffraction
- Scattering
- Attenuation etc..
* Transducer and Impedance Matching
* Doppler Effect
* Pulse Ultrasound
The Nature of Ultrasound
- Mechanical vibration or wave
Compressive Wave
Sound Spectra
Imaging
Velocity
- Dependent on the medium and temperature
Blood 1570
Brain 1540
Fat 1450
Kidney 1560
Muscle 1590
Reflected wave
Medium 1 Medium 2
Reflection
- One of the basic principles of medical ultrasound diagnosis.
- Occurs at areas of acoustic impedance mismatch.
- Divided into several different types including:
Transmitted wave
Diffraction
If an ultrasound beam passes an
Deflecting beam
obstacle within a distance of 1 or 2
wavelengths, its direction of
propagation is deflected by diffraction
as shown in the figure. The closer the
beam is to the diffracting object, the
greater the deflection is.
Diffracting
Object
1 or 2 wavelengths
Scattering
- Occurs when small particles absorb part
of the ultrasound energy and re-radiate it Spherical Scatter-wave
in all directions as a spherical field. This
means that the transducer can be positioned
at any angle to the ultrasound beam and
still receive echoes back. Scattering allows
reflections from objects even smaller than
the wavelength. Many biological interfaces
have irregular surfaces, tending to give
scatter-like reflection, which is quite useful,
as it will give at least some echoes even
though the beam is not directly perpendicular
to the reflecting interface.
Backscatter
Transducer
Tissue
Case
Transducer
Crystal
Matching Layer
Doppler Effect
In ultrasound Imaging, echoes received from most tissues will be at the same
frequency as the transmitted beam. However, if echoes received are from
tissues or blood cells that are moving, the transmitted and received frequencies
will not be the same. This “shifted” frequency can be used to determine the
relative velocity and the direction of this moving tissues. This effect is known as
the Doppler Principle. Essentially, the greater the frequency shift, the higher
the velocity of the moving object. Additionally, movement toward the transducer
results in a higher received frequency, and movement away in a lower received
frequency.
Doppler Effect
TXM TXM
RCV RCV
For practical use, most modern ultrasound systems are designed based on the
principle of pulse-echo technique, which means that transducer emits only a
few cycles of pulses at a time into the human body. When encountering tissues
interfaces, reflection and scattering will occur and produce pulse echoes, By
detecting these echoes, tissue positioning and identification as well as diagnosis
can be made.
Spectral Doppler
Spectral Doppler, of high value in ultrasound diagnosis, can be used for
evaluation of blood flow, includes three kinds:
- Pulse Doppler(PW)
- High Pulse Repetition Frequency
Pulse Doppler (HPRF)
- Continuous Wave Doppler (CW).
Pulse Doppler
In Pulse Doppler, a single ultrasound line Transducer
is repeatedly fired. Echoes reflected from
moving structure, including blood cells, Sample
experience a Doppler shift in frequency. Volume
Using the Doppler equation, the echo
information obtained within the Sample
Volume is analyzed for shifted frequency
content and amplitude, rather than transmit
frequency amplitude. From this, the blood
velocity can be determined.
R R R R
Pulse Repetition
Period
* Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) is the number of times per second that
transducer transmits a pulse.
The maximum Doppler shift velocity measurable in Pulse Doppler is limited to one
half the sampling rate defined by the PRF, which is mainly determined by the sampling
depth. For a given transducer and depth, this maximum measurable velocity, which is
known as the Nyquist Limit, can be calculated using the following equation:
PRF
Nyquist Limit =
2
Aliasing
If the maximum velocity for that transducer and depth exceeds the Nyquist limit, a
phenomenon known as Aliasing occurs. Aliasing results in the display of erroneous
velocity information.(Showing a “wraparound” effect.)
Velocity 0
-2
Spectral Display Showing Aliasing
HPRF Doppler
CW Doppler is used primarily in diagnosing abnormalities in which range resolution is not important
or when the sonographer is interested in the quantification of high velocity jets.
CW PW
Transducer
Velocity
Time
Color Flow Mapping
Color Flow Mapping (CFM) combines B-mode image format and Pulsed Doppler to
provide a two dimensional representation of blood flow in Real Time.
The Doppler ultrasound lines, like B-mode lines, are sequentially scanned through the
frame. Multiple range gates are taken along the Doppler lines. The calculated velocity
data is assigned a color to represent a certain velocity and direction, and then displayed
combining with the B-mode image at the original location.
+ =
Blood
Flow
2-D CFM
MTI (Moving Target Indicator)
First
Second
Transducer
Color Box
Phased Array
In a phased array system, a series of elements are arranged into a array. The
timing of the transmit drive pulses to each element and are arranged so that the
wavefronts from all the transmitting elements arrive at a selected spatial point
at the same time. This is accomplished by introducing a curve into the timing
delays whose center is the desired focal point. This in effect is the same as
using an acoustic lens, as a lens implements focus by delaying waves to a
specific degree so that the same result is achieved. Using electronic instead of
physical delay allows the transmit focal point to be changed simply by changing
the delay relationships.
Phased Array
Wavefront from Elements
Time Delay
Summation
Wavefront
Focal Point
Linear Array
- Radial “Pie-shaped”
Scan Format
- Narrow Aperture
- Wide View at Far Field
Expand or Vector Format
- Wide View at Near and
Far Field
Beamformer
Conventional Beamformer
Transmit/Receive
Analog
Summation
Pre- Amplifier
Array
A-D Converter
Digital
Summation
Digital
Control Detector
Digital Beamformer
Digital Transmit
Software Control
- Dynamic Focus
* Resolution
- Spatial Resolution
(Lateral and Axial Resolution)
- Contrast Resolution
* Uniformity
* Effects on Image Quality
* Phantoms
Spatial Resolution
Spatial Resolution is defined as the ability to distinguish small structures with clarity.
Generally speaking, it can be divided into Lateral and Axial Resolution, and it is
dependent on the numbers of the channels of the system and the frequency used.
The more channels , the better lateral resolution is. The higher frequency used, the
better axial resolution is.
Lateral Resolution
Lateral Resolution is the ability of the system
to resolve structures that are very close to one
another at the same depth.
Beam width is narrow enough to be able to resolve these two structures separately.
Beam width is too wide to be able to resolve these two structures separately.
Axial Resolution
Axial Resolution is the ability of the
system to resolve structure that are
very close to one another at different
depth.
Beam