ABSTRACT
The ultrasound endoscopic probes with very small size transducers are normally imaging by focused ultrasound beamforming technology. So the imaging frame rate is not very high, which cannot meet the needs of some clinical applications based on high imaging rate. In recent years, plane-wave ultrafast imaging technology can obtain high image frame rate and guarantee the image quality. In this paper, a plane wave ultra-fast imaging technique based on a home-made small line array ultrasound transducer is presented. Feasibility of the method is verified by simulation estimations and phantom experiments. The results show that for the small size transducer design of plane wave ultrafast imaging, it is necessary to fully consider the combination of the array element width and the number of array elements. So that a good plane wave imaging quality can be obtained. It lays a foundation for the ultra-fast imaging of plane wave in the interventional ultrasound imaging and ultrasound endoscopy.
Subject(s)
Phantoms, Imaging , Transducers , UltrasonographyABSTRACT
Objective To assess the relationship between pulse wave velocity(PWV) and carotid atherosclerosis by UltraFast imaging.Methods 476 cases from Medical Examination Center of Beijing Friendship Hospital were enrolled in this study.According to intima-media thickness(IMT) of carotid artery,all subjects were divided into two groups:IMT without thickening group (G0) of 283 cases and IMT thickening group (G1) of 193 cases.Through UltraFast imaging,carotid artery PWV was measured,including the PWV at the beginning of the systole(BS) and the PWV at the ending of the systole(ES).Carotid IMT and plaque situation were recorded under gray-scale ultrasound.BS and ES were compared between the two groups.Spearman rank correlation was used to analyse the correlation between IMT of carotid artery and BS,between IMT of carotid artery and ES.Two independent samples t test to compare BS,ES between the two groups.Results BS of G1 and G0 were (6.03 ± 1.33)m/s and (5.51 ± 1.13)m/s,t =-4.571,P =0.000;ES of G1 and G0 were (8.42 ± 2.13)m/s and (7.34 ± 2.02) m/s,t =5.619,P =0.000.BS and ES of G1 were larger those of G0 respectively.BS (r =0.192,P =0.000) and ES (r =0.249,P =0.000) were correlated with the IMT of carotid artery.Conclusions Ultrafast imaging technique can quickly measure the carotid artery PWV.BS and ES of carotid artery can be quick,convenient,safe,noninvasive parameters for evaluating carotid atherosclerosis.