Greenleaf, James F.

Ultrasonic contrast agents consisting of microbubbles are used to assess tissue perfusion. The microbubbles are highly reflective and nonlinear and thus produce harmonics that are stronger than those from tissues. However, the magnitude of harmonic signals resulting from a region with microbubbles also depends on the acoustic pressure of incident ultrasound and the attenuation of intervening tissues in the ultrasound path. Therefore, the harmonic magnitude, as used in traditional harmonic imaging, may not be a reliable indicator of the presence or absence of microbubbles, and hence, tissue perfusion. To compensate for these effects, we present two parameters defined as the ratio of the harmonic to the fundamental component ( HFR) and the ratio of the harmonic to squared fundamental ( HSFR). A simplified model is used to illustrate the usefulness of these two parameters. Experiments show that both parameters improve detection of microbubbles and that HSFR performs better than HFR.

In this work, we study linear array beamforming for vibro-acoustography systems. The goal of this research is to assess the feasibility of vibro-acoustography imaging systems based on linear arrays for clinical applications. The vibro-acoustography transducer is designed with two arrays driven by two continuous-wave or tone-burst signals at slightly different frequencies. The system beamforming is modeled in a homogeneous and lossless fluid. In this model, the point-spread function (psf) of the system is obtained as the product of the spatial impulse function of each linear array. Three linear array configurations are analyzed for vibro-acoustography systems. Simulations considering 64 elements in each array are performed. Aspects related to clinical applications of vibro-acoustography, such as system spatial resolution, sidelobes, grating lobes and image frame-rate are discussed. It is concluded that linear array transducers can produce acceptable spatial resolution for clinical applications.

The intersection of two ultrasound beams with slightly different frequencies results in generation of a localized radiation force and stimulates emission of audio signals from targeted objects. Vibro-acoustography uses this phenomenon to probe elastic properties of objects. Vibro-acoustography of contrast microbubbles in degassed water produced quantitative flow measurements from analysis of their acoustic emission. We used a dual-beam transducer generating bursts of 40-kHz vibrations. The vibrations resulted from interference of 3.48-MHz and 3.52-MHz confocal beams intersecting at the center of a thin plastic conduit. We tested flows of 13, 48, 85, and 120 mL/min of contrast microbubbles at concentrations from 1.2 times 10 5 to 6 times 10 5 bubbles/mL. The amplitude of the acoustic emission was linear with microbubble concentrations up to a value of 3.6 times 10 5 bubbles/mL. A replenishment method for microbubble contrast and flow rate analysis was used with radiation force bursts deployed at 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, and 2-second pulsing intervals. The relation between the pulsing intervals and the peak amplitude was fitted by an exponential curve and a rate constant calculated for each tested flow rate. The rate constant values were linearly correlated with the tested flows. The vibro-acoustography method provides objective, quantitative, and highly-localized assessment of flow using contrast microbubbles.

Scattering of ultrasound by biological tissues (continuous-inhomogeneous media) is discussed. An analytical expression for the attenuation due to scattering (α T SC ) and backscatter coefficients (σ T ) of tissues are obtained. The results explain the variation of (α T SC ) and σ T with frequency for a number of tissues. The study also provides two statistical parameters, velocity fluctuation coefficient and correlation length, in terms of which the scattering of tissues can be defined quantitatively.

Three concepts are presented: 1) Extended kernels: The Ramachandran-Lakshminarayanan convolution kernel has one zero between each non-zero value in the spatial domain. By extending the kernel in Fourier space, it is shown that each extension leads to two additional zeros in the spatial domain of the convolution kernel, thus decreasing the required number of multiplications necessary for convolution. Any known kernel can be extended and in the limit of extension a simple backprojection reconstruction is obtained. 2) Binary kernels: A technique for generating binary approximations to any convolution kernel is described. Excluding the central element, all other elements of the kernel are approximated by an even power of two thus, multiplications are replaced by shift operations in the convolution procedure. 3) Recursive convolution: It is shown how additions can be saved by using a recursive formulation which generates new elements in the convolution procedure utilizing only a few summation steps. Results from both extended kernels and their binary approximations are described for simulated phantoms and ultrasound data obtained from breast scans of patients.

Many methods in the field of elasticity imaging use shear waves to investigate the material properties of various soft tissues. The accurate and robust measurement of the shear wave speed is necessary for reliable clinical measurements. We propose using the Radon transformation on the spatiotemporal shear wave data to estimate the shear wave speed. A similar algorithm called the Radon sum transformation was proposed by Rouze, et al (IEEE Trans. Ultrasonics Ferroelectr. Freq. Control. 2010. pp. 2662-70), but this algorithm requires different input parameters that can affect the results. The use of the full Radon transform allows for the differentiation of waves that are traveling in different directions, thus this method can be used as a directional filter. We will also demonstrate the connection between estimating shear wave speeds in the Radon transform domain and estimating shear wave speeds from Fourier transform k-space. Results from shear wave measurements using shear waves induced by ultrasound radiation force will be shown. We will examine the accuracy of measurements made in calibrated elasticity phantoms, and show examples of shear wave speed estimation in arteries and kidneys. [This research was supported in part by NIH grants EB002640 and DK082408.]

Elasticity imaging is a medical imaging modality that measures tissue elasticity to aid in diagnosis of certain diseases. Shear wave-based methods have been developed to perform elasticity measurements in soft tissue. Hybrid beamforming applies both the conventional spherical and axicon focusing to produce a beam for generating a shear wave with increased depth-of-field so that measurements can be made with a plane-like shear wave. We present our aperture design and beam optimization performed using Field II simulations. We varied the number of elements devoted to spherical and axicon focusing as well as the opening angle used for axicon focusing. We tested hybrid beamforming in three elastic phantoms and an excised kidney. We evaluated the shear wave speed measurements accuracy in the phantoms as well as the depth-of-field for each hybrid beam. We compared our results with those from using beams generated using spherical and axicon focusing. Our results show that hybrid beamforming is capable of producing a long narrow beam that performs well when among the 128 elements of transducer, 48 elements are allocated to each axicon portion and 32 elements for spherical aperture while the angle of the axicon aperture is set less than 20.

Abstract Objective: This paper introduces an alternative non-invasive and non-ionizing breast imaging tool called vibro-acoustography (VA). This method is based on low-frequency harmonic vibrations induced in the object by the radiation force of ultrasound. Contrast in Vibro-acoustography images represent several properties of the object, including the dynamic characteristics at the audio frequency and scattering and absorption properties at the ultrasound frequency. X-ray mammography and ultrasound are the main imaging modality used today for detection of breast lesions. X-ray mammography, however, is ionizing and its sensitivity is greatly reduced in dense breasts. Ultrasound images suffer from speckles or other or artifact that prevents the physician from delineating the mass lesion from the background tissue. Hence, VA may be used as a stand-alone imaging device or as a tool to provide supplementary information to other existing imaging modalities. Materials & Methods: Matching vibro-acoustography and mammography images of human breast are acquired using a combined mammography/vibro-acoustography machine. Images of various types of breast masses are investigated and their characteristics features are compared. Image features, such as lesion borders, interior texture, and speculation pattern, are studied. Results: Resulting images show soft tissue structures, breast lesions and microcalcifications within breast with high contrast, high resolution, and no speckles. The results have been verified using x-ray mammograms of the breast. Vibro-acoustography images demonstrate that calcified masses normally show sharp borders, benign non-calcified masses have smooth texture, and, in some cases, malignant masses are characterized with spiculation. Conclusion: The encouraging results which are based on the data collected from an ongoing study indicate that the above mentioned image features may be used for differentiation of breast masses and suggest that further development of vibro-acoustography technology may lead to a new clinical tool for various imaging applications. Work supported in part by Grant CA121579-01A1from NIH and Grant BCTR#0504550 from Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4047. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-4047

Vibro-acoustography is a method for imaging the acoustic energy emitted from objects in response to an oscillatory radiation force produced by two interfering focused beams of ultrasound [M. Fatemi and J. F. Greenleaf, Science 280, 82–85 (1998)]. To facilitate quantitative study, a model is presented that describes the behavior of an elastic sphere in two plane ultrasound waves of slightly different frequencies. The vibrating velocity and the resulting acoustic emission of the sphere at the difference frequency are derived from the radiation force and the impedance of the sphere. For small steel spheres in water, the velocity and emission are predicted to have a simple relationship with the difference frequency and the size of the sphere. Experiments on small stainless steel spheres of different size are carried out for a number of difference frequencies, with a laser interferometer to measure the velocity of the sphere and a calibrated hydrophone to measure the acoustic emission from the sphere. The experimental results fit the model description well. This means that vibro-acoustography may be useful in quantitative measurement.